Change of Destiny
by CommChatter
Summary: Anakin Skywalker did not turn to the Dark Side. He and Senator Amidala vanish during the chaos following Order 66. Sixteen years later, when the Empire comes to their adopted homeworld of Ansion, Anakin is forced to join the Rebels to rescue his children.
1. Prologue

Author's note: I know that there are a _lot _of _What if? _stories regarding Anakin Skywalker had he not turned to the Dark Side. Here's my version.

Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas. I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars the Clone Wars, or anyone whose name sounds familiar.

~Dramatis Personae~

Anakin Skywalker; Jedi Master (Human male)

Padmé Amidala Skywalker; Senator (Human female)

Obi-Wan Kenobi; Jedi Master (Human male)

Ahsoka Tano; Jedi Knight (Togruta female)

Luke Skywalker; Jedi Apprentice (Human male)

Jinn Skywalker; Jedi Apprentice (Human male)

Leia Skywalker; Jedi Apprentice (Human female)

Grace Skywalker; Jedi Initiate (Human female)

Ardeth Vao; Jedi Knight (Twi'lek male)

Raoul Tano; Jedi Apprentice (Togruta male)

Mara Jade; Emperor's Hand (Human female)

Miranaken'yon; Rebel pilot (Twi'lek female)

Rex; Rebel Commander (clone, Human male)

Han Solo; Captain, _Millennium Falcon_ (Human male)

Chewbacca; Co-pilot, _Millennium Falcon_ (Wookiee male)

Artoo-Detoo; Astromech droid

C-3PO; Protocol droid

CT-27-5555 "Fives"; ARC Trooper (clone, Human male)

CT-21-0408 "Echo"; ARC Trooper (Clone, Human male)

Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine; Sith Master/Emperor (Human male)

Darth Maul; Sith Apprentice (Zabrak male)

**Betrayal**

_~19 BBY, Deep Space, Aftermath of Order 66~_

Padmé stared out the viewport of the Naboo star yacht, _Pax_, willing Anakin's Delta 7 starfighter to drop out of hyperspace.

When Padmé had commed him about the attack on the Chancellor and the destruction of the Jedi Temple he had told her about his narrow escape from the clone troopers he had been with. Luckily they were in the hangar of one of the capital ships and Anakin had made good his escape in his starfighter.

Unfortunately, Ahsoka had taken part of the fleet to Utapau to assist Obi-Wan in his hunt for General Grievous, and Anakin hadn't heard from his padawan since he had seen her off.

When Anakin had heard about the massacre at the Temple, he had, under no uncertain terms, told Padmé to get off Coruscant _now_ and that he was on his way to reset the beacon calling the Jedi to the Temple. When she had questioned him, Anakin had told her that he wanted to look for survivors. If there were any. If he could get past the clones guarding the Temple.

The baby in her stomach shifted restlessly, and, if Padmé wasn't mistaken, the child had felt and was reacting to the deaths of the Jedi who had managed to escape from the Temple and the clones that they had once fought side by side with. She had already deduced that Palpatine was the Sith that Count Dooku had warned Obi-Wan about on Geonosis before the start of the war.

Darth Sidious, she reminded herself. The Senator and later Chancellor Palpatine that she had thought she knew had never existed. He was and would always be an agent of evil, even if he was hiding behind the face of a kindly old man. What had surprised her was that he had been able to hide his true self from the Jedi High Council, and from Grand Master Yoda.

"Mistress Padmé, is there anything I can do to be of service?" the slightly tinny voice of See-Threepio asked from the entrance to the cockpit.

Padmé had had just enough time to grab a few essentials and Threepio on her way out of her apartment in 500 Republica before the clones had come to arrest her. She and Dormé- who was nursing a blaster wound to the arm in the small medibunk- had made it to the hangar and into orbit and freedom shortly thereafter.

"Not now Threepio, thank you. Why don't you go see if Dormé needs help?"

The droid's voice sounded slightly affronted as he answered her. "I already inquired if Mistress Dormé required assistance. She told me that the best way to help her was that I leave her alone. I really have no idea why she would tell me that, one of my many alternate functions is the dressing of wounds such as hers-" he was cut off as Padmé caught sight of the ship that had just dropped out of hyperspace and shrieked.

It was Anakin's Delta 7, but it was pockmarked with carbon scoring, particularly around the cockpit. It disconnected from the hyperspace ring and drifted closer to the _Pax_.

_~19 BBY, Coruscant, After the issuing of Order 66~_

Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight, the Hero with No Fear, the Chosen One, poster boy of the Jedi Order, snuck through the underworld of Coruscant like a hunted outlaw. _Which is exactly what I am, _Anakin thought bitterly.

He had seen several Wanted holos of him and Padmé, along with Jedi Masters Shaak Ti, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The fact that Obi-Wan was wanted meant that he was alive, and most likely would stay that way now that his former master was aware of the danger. That fact alone made Anakin's heavy heart slightly lighter. All the holos stated that the Jedi were to be considered extremely dangerous and were not to be approached without clone troopers being present. All the Jedi save Anakin were wanted dead. Palpatine expressly wanted him alive.

That fact alone made Anakin resolve to force them to kill him if it came to that.

Worry gnawed at Anakin about his padawan. Ahsoka had gone completely off the grid. The young Togruta was more than capable of taking care of herself, he knew, but he was still worried. No news was better than bad news, in this case, Anakin decided.

The deaths of the most notable masters were what had Anakin worried. Masters Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar, Ki-Adi-Mundi and Battlemaster Cin "the Troll" Drallig were some of the most experienced, powerful Jedi in the Order, and they were dead. _Dead. _

What chance did Anakin have if Cin Drallig, the best swordsman in the Order, had been killed in the Temple- in his own dojo!- by the newly proclaimed Emperor's mysterious apprentice?

If Anakin had heard correctly, Palpatine had killed Masters Tiin, Windu, Kolar and Fisto himself. Vaapad hadn't helped Master Windu. Anakin had never liked Master Windu, but he had a grudging respect for the man. That he was dead was inconceivable to Anakin. Windu had been there from the time Anakin had been brought to the Temple, and it had seemed like he would always be.

Anakin shuddered as he realized just how easily it could have been _him._ His dreams of Padmé dying in childbirth had driven him nearly insane. Palpatine had tried to draw him in, but with Padmé giving Anakin some perspective, he had realized that Palpatine had been manipulating him. Undermining Anakin's trust in the Order and faith in himself and Obi-Wan, Palpatine had set Anakin up for a fall beautifully. It had almost worked.

It would have worked if Yoda hadn't sent Anakin and Ahsoka off to Utapau, telling Anakin to blockade the system while Ahsoka went down to the planet. Anakin had to wonder if Yoda had foreseen this. It would explain a lot.

_Head in the game. Focus, Skywalker._ Anakin shook himself and stopped in front of the unobtrusive electrical panel in front of him. Memories of sneaking out of the Temple assaulted him as he carefully removed the panel. He slipped into the tunnel, hunching his shoulders as he did so; the ceiling was really much too close to his head for comfort. The tunnel was dark, and he couldn't risk igniting his lightsaber for fear of the clones hearing its signature hum.

Going by ten-year old memories he navigated through the tunnel. As he turned a corner, his forehead met a pipe with a muffled _bong!_

"_Boshuda! _Kriffing thing-!" Anakin gasped, staggering backward until his shoulder blades met the wall of the tunnel. _Memories aren't what they used to be. I wasn't as tall then._ Anakin thought. This tunnel wasn't the one he had used to sneak out to visit Padmé. The other was too well guarded, however inadvertently, by a squad of clones.

When he was young, before the war had started, Anakin had made a habit out of sneaking out of the Temple and exploring Coruscant. He had also raided junk piles for bits of circuitry and metal to tinker with his many droid projects. He had used this tunnel until a fellow padawan, Ferus Olin, had caught him sneaking back in. It had taken Anakin weeks to find a new tunnel out into the underworld, and even longer to learn to navigate himself through the new area. He still remembered his terror when he thought he was lost in an unfamiliar part of the underworld.

He navigated the rest of the way back to the Temple carefully, coming out in a small closet in an unused corner of the Temple.

Peace and serenity had once reigned supreme here, now though echoes of pain, terror and death assailed him as he pulled the hood of his cloak up over his face and exited the closet. He moved up the corridor towards the Hall of Healing. The doors had been old- fashioned with antiquated hinges.

The door on the left now hung off its hinges while the one that had been on the right was at the back of the room, scorched and shattered. The entire main room was in disarray. Doors to the hospital rooms had been blown off, and several clones lay sprawled on the floor, obviously killed by a lightsaber.

He thanked the Force that they weren't the 501st, that Rex was with Ahsoka, although, given recent events, Anakin wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse. _My life is _so _screwed up_. Releasing a sigh of frustration, Anakin moved to the communications area of the Temple, which had doubled as an impromptu war room during the attack on Coruscant and other times, like when the Zillo Beast had been unwittingly loosed on the city.

Moving over to the main console, Anakin accessed the recall beacon and replaced it with a general warning to stay away from the clones, the army and Coruscant in particular. _Stay away. Hide, live to fight another day_.

Anakin then moved to the security holos. He sighed. He didn't want to do this. But he had to. Reaching out with his mechanical hand, his finger hovered over the button to play back the footage when the door cycled open.

He spun, activating his lightsaber as he went, not fully registering the people standing in front of him for a moment. Then it hit him.

"Obi-Wan! Master Yoda!" he practically shouted in relief, lowering his saber as both parties relaxed slightly.

The relief on Obi-Wan's face was short lived. "Anakin, what are you doing here?" the concern in his voice obvious.

"I came to reset the beacon and look for survivors. I didn't think anyone else would come." He gestured at the security holo, which was frozen on an image of a Twi'lek Jedi Knight, lightsaber held in the classic defensive posture.

"Much time, we do not have. Hurry, we must." Yoda stated as he hobbled forward. "Play it, young Skywalker. Leave soon, we must."

With new resolve, Anakin pressed the button. The three Jedi watched in growing horror as a man dressed in ominous black armor, the helmet reminiscent of a human skull, led two entire legions of clone troopers through the main entrance, already gunning down the badly outnumbered defenders. The black armored man cut down any Jedi within his reach, using a red double-bladed lightsaber that, even in a grainy holo, Obi-Wan recognized. He hadn't seen it in almost twenty years, and it had been in two pieces, but he was positive that that was the lightsaber that had killed his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. The masked villain there, was, he was marginally sure, Darth Maul.

When the holo ended with Maul's massacre of the younglings in the Council Room, Anakin swore impressively and fluently in what Obi-Wan thought was Huttese. Obi-Wan thought he saw Anakin's eyes glaze over with unshed tears, then he blinked and they were gone.

"We don't have time to give them a proper send off." Obi-Wan said quietly, taking a knee to gently close a young Zeltron's eyes, frozen painfully wide. She couldn't have been more than sixteen.

Anakin was walking toward the Crèche, where the youngest of Initiates were housed.

Obi-Wan watched him, then glanced at Yoda.

The diminutive Master looked up at the younger Jedi. "Go with him, you must. My own mission, I have."

Obi-Wan bowed to the Grand Master. "I will Master. May the Force be with you. Always," he said formally.

Yoda chuckled, though the humor didn't reach his eyes. "Meet again, we will, my friend. Sooner than you expect, yes," the old Jedi then returned the bow, returning in kind "May the Force be with us all. Meet at the rendezvous, we will. Bring young Skywalker, you must."

"Speaking of Anakin, I should catch up with him. Good bye, Master,"

When Obi-Wan caught up with his former padawan, he was standing in the middle of the ransacked Crèche, fists clenched, trying to contain his anger. He was losing the battle.

Then he abruptly turned and strode to the cupboards in the corner where fresh clothes had once been kept for the children. He pulled open the door and froze. Obi-Wan watched him cautiously as the muscles in his back and neck tightened visibly.

"What is it, Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked, trepidation in his voice.

Anakin's voice cracked when he tried to speak. He cleared his throat and tried again, this time he managed to rasp out: "A baby," his voice sounded odd.

"What!" disbelief quickly replacing the trepidation in light of the newest development. "Alive?" he asked, moving to stand behind Anakin to get a better look in the cupboard. He stared as Anakin reached in and lifted out a young, blue skinned Rutian Twi'lek.

"He can't be more than a year old," Anakin said, holding the terrified youngling against his chest. The child's blue eyes, a shade darker than his skin, were wide, but he remained silent.

Still gawking, Obi-Wan asked the obvious, if heartless, question. "How did they miss him?"

Anakin stood, shrugging. "I don't know." He turned and moved back out into the hallway, pulling the blanket over the child's eyes and carefully stepping around and over the dead. Clone and Jedi alike. "Let's get out of here."

Anakin led the way to the tunnel he had used to enter. Obi-Wan just shook his head in amusement. Anakin shot him a glare.

"So is this how you were sneaking out to visit Senator Amidala?" the question was asked casually, and it took Anakin a moment to realize what his former Master had said.

"No… wait what?" The surprise in Anakin's voice coaxed a small, sad smile from Obi-Wan. The young Twi'lek whimpered and started to wail. Obi-Wan gently started to pat him on the back.

"You weren't nearly as discreet as you thought you were, Anakin. I've lost count of how many times I'd have to cover for you. I know she's pregnant. Is it safe to assume that you're the father?"

Anakin turned and, having obviously forgotten what he was supposed to be doing, asked, "How long have you known?" The surprise was still there, now tempered with nervousness.

"Until now, I was just guessing. And I'm usually right in my guesses. How long?"

Anakin turned back to the hidden door and pulled it open. "Three years. Can we talk about this later? We should get out of here,"

Obi-Wan sighed and followed Anakin into the tunnel. "Fine. But don't think I'll forget about it."

Anakin snorted. "Wouldn't dream of it, Master,"

They walked for what seemed like forever in the dark, Obi-Wan slipping occasionally on some accumulated slime. Ahead, Anakin ducked under the pipe that he had hit before.

"Watch your-" he started, but he was too late and the top of Obi-Wan's head hit the pipe with the same muffled _bong_ it had made with Anakin. "-head," he finished, fighting to keep a straight face.

Obi-Wan's reaction was much more controlled than Anakin's had been. He gave Anakin one of his trademark disgruntled glares he saved specifically for his wayward ex-padawan, shook his head to clear it, and kept moving. He had even managed to keep hold of the youngling, which had nestled himself snugly into Obi-Wan's robes and had fallen asleep.

Chortling under his breath, Anakin led the way out and carefully replaced the electrical panel after they were out.

Turning to Obi-Wan, Anakin asked softly "Do you have a ship?"

He shook his head. "Not one that won't arouse undue attention. I daresay General Grievous's personal shuttle is still on Coruscant's watch list. You only have your starfighter." He sighed. "We'll have to borrow one."

"General Grievous's_ personal _ship! You defeated Grievous!" Anakin exclaimed in surprise.

Obi-Wan found Anakin's disbelief slightly insulting. "You don't need to sound so surprised, Anakin. I find your lack of faith insulting."

Anakin backpedaled quickly. "I didn't mean that! I just-" he broke off when an idea suddenly hit him. "What about the Nubian ships? Padmé always keeps several in her private hangar. We could take one of them."

"What about your fighter?"

Anakin thought. "We could send Artoo with the fighter to meet Padmé and give her the coordinates for the rendezvous with Yoda." He glanced at the youngling, still sleeping, wrapped in Obi-Wan's cloak. "What will we do with him? We can't take a ship and keep a youngling safe at the same time," another thought came to mind. "What's his name?"

"I believe Master Secura brought him to the Temple. She said his name was Ardeth Vao, from Ryloth." Anakin nodded, memories of the battles on and around Ryloth during the war assailing him. Ardeth was too young to have been born before the battles.

The theft of the Nubian skiff went off without a hitch and Anakin's starfighter piloted by Artoo escorted them out of Coruscant and both jumped to hyperspace, Artoo to meet Padmé in their deep space rendezvous to take her to the meeting point on Polis Massa, where Bail Organa and Master Yoda would be waiting for them with Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Lowering Ardeth carefully down onto the acceleration couch, Obi-Wan let himself drop, in a rather un-Jedi-like manner, onto the couch next to the sleeping child.

Anakin mirrored his friend and sank down into one of the swivel chairs across from him. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Alright. Let's have it,"

Obi-Wan sighed. "At this point, Anakin, I don't think it really matters anymore. To the rest of the Rep-Empire, we are all traitors. I have no qualms about the two of you. Master Yoda, though, I'm not so sure,"

Anakin sat up straighter. "I would have left the Order for her. Now, the Republic is gone and the Jedi all but destroyed. As much as I hate to say it, I don't think Master Yoda's opinion carries as much weight now. We'll have to go into hiding. The baby and Padmé must be protected." He looked at Ardeth, who had wriggled himself against Obi-Wan's warmer body. "Ardeth will have to be protected, Master."

"And you would have me raise him?" Obi-Wan asked, raising an eyebrow at his former padawan.

Anakin shrugged. "You survived me didn't you? A youngling like him, you'll be fine."

"You are assuming that I would be willing to suffer through rearing another Force-sensitive child, this time from infancy, to adulthood? From a different species?" Obi-Wan affected a slightly affronted pose that quickly changed into a wry grin, which faded. "He will give me something to do, in any case. Hopefully not as much trouble as _you_." The smile returned. "If the Force has any sense of justice, or humor, your baby will give you just as much trouble, if not more, than you caused me."

Anakin laughed. "I'd love every minute of it and you know it,"

Obi-Wan shook his head at his young friend. "That I completely agree with you." He settled himself more comfortably on the couch. "We should rest. We'll be there soon."

STAR WARS

Padmé couldn't hide her disappointment as Artoo came into the airlock instead of Anakin. The little droid trundled by her to the cockpit and plugged himself into the navicomputer.

"Artoo, what are you doing?" Padmé asked him. "Where's Anakin?"

Artoo burbled and bleeped an unintelligible answer.

"Oh, my, Mistress Padmé, Artoo says that we are to meet Master Ani and Master Kenobi at the asteroid colony of Polis Massa. Artoo is inputting the coordinates now."

Padmé sighed. "Alright, let's go." She gasped as pain suddenly clenched around her stomach.

Contractions. The baby was coming. Anakin wasn't there.

_Pax _jumped to hyperspace as another contraction doubled her over with a cry of pain. Artoo rolled over to her, tootling nervously as Threepio hurried out of the cockpit as fast as his servomotors could carry him, calling "Mistress Dormé! Mistress Dormé! Mistress Padmé needs help!"

Dormé hurried in, her blaster burn now fully healed, and helped Padmé to her feet and into the captain's room and into the bed.

The hours of the hyperspace jump to Polis Massa were a long and tiring one for both women.

Dormé landed the ship and lowered the boarding ramp, which was only halfway open before Anakin Skywalker was up the ramp and down the corridor to his wife's bedroom. Master Kenobi followed him at a more sedate pace. Anakin carefully picked Padmé up and carried her to the delivery room in the Polis Massan medical facility.

Four hours later, Obi-Wan and Bail were convinced Anakin was going to have a nervous breakdown. He had been removed (forcibly) from the delivery room by Obi-Wan, after the midwife requested he be removed. He was now pacing a hole in the floor, glancing nervously in the observation window at his exhausted wife.

One of the nurses waved him in, murmuring quietly, "The baby will be here any minute. She requested your presence."

Padmé gripped his left flesh-and-blood hand so tightly that Anakin thought he might need another cybernetic. She gave an agonized groan as Anakin and the midwife encouraged her to _push_. The wail of a newborn baby broke the sudden silence.

"It's a boy," the medical droid intoned, transferring the child to an awed Anakin's arms.

Padmé smirked up at Anakin. "I told you we were having a boy. Luke," she whispered, caressing his small head. She gasped in pain again. Anakin's head snapped up and he looked at Padmé, then handed little Luke to Obi-Wan, who had appeared by his side.

"What is it?" Anakin demanded of the midwife.

She met his eyes, then said, "The second baby. You're having twins,"

"What!?" Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padmé demanded at the same time, one surprised, another in disbelief, Obi-Wan in horror.

"Force help me," Obi-Wan said, sounding horrified. "there's _three_ Skywalkers. I'm doomed!"

Padmé gave a laugh that was cut off quickly by another grunt of pain. "I'm… the one… wh… who has… to… deal with… them!"

Her grunt died as another unearthly wail announced Luke's twin's arrival.

The medical droid deposited the tiny baby in an exhausted Padmé's arms, announcing "It's a girl," as it did so.

Anakin picked the baby girl up, crooning "Leia. My little princess," as Padmé accepted Luke from Obi-Wan. Anakin's grin lit up his entire face as Leia opened her eyes, which were already the same chocolate brown as her mother's. Tufts of brown hair were sticking up at odd angles. Her little fist wrapped securely around his finger with surprising strength. Leia smiled at him.

STAR WARS

They all gathered around the table the next day. Padmé still looked tired, but happy, holding baby Leia, while Anakin stood behind her, holding Luke, who already looked like him. Luke had white blond hair and blue eyes like his father's. Both newborns were small supernovas in the Force, their Force-signatures bright and flashing as they communicated through their twin bond.

Obi-Wan sat across from Padmé, Ardeth sitting on his lap, levitating a small ball that Bail had brought for the young Twi'lek's amusement. Ardeth giggled as he sent the ball bouncing through the air.

Dormé had been hired by Bail to keep her hidden from the Empire. Bail Organa sat at the head of the table, Master Yoda directly across from him as they decided what they would do.

"Disappear, we must," Yoda said gravely. "Separate the twins, you should. Dangerous it will be if raised together they are."

"No. I won't separate my family. We've been apart long enough." Padmé rebutted before Anakin could even voice his protest.

When Yoda looked to him, Anakin sighed. "I'm not separating my family, Master. Not again."

Bail backed him up. "Raising Force bonded twins apart sounds foolish, don't you think, Master Jedi?"

Obi-Wan snatched the ball out of its downward spiral and handed it back to Ardeth- who had completely adopted him- before he answered. "I think it would be unwise to separate the Skywalkers. Any of them. Because the two that I do know tend to do incredibly brash things when they're separated. I can only imagine that the Skywalker twins would be worse." Anakin rolled his eyes at him.

"Hmmm. If not separated, then hidden, yes. Hide your family, Master Skywalker. Protect and teach your younglings, you should."

Anakin stared at Yoda. "I'm not a master."

Yoda chuckled. "Are now. So few left. A seat you had on the High Council. Grand Master am I. Confer upon you the title of Jedi Master, I do."

Anakin seemed stunned, then bowed to Yoda as best he could with a sleeping Luke in his arms. "Thank you, Master."

Bail voiced his worries. "Where will you hide? The Emperor will be able to find you where ever you go. And what of the Twi'lek?" he gestured at Ardeth, still engrossed with the ball.

"To Dagobah, I will go. Uninhabited the system is." Yoda stated. "Stay there until needed am I,"

"Ardeth will come with me to Tatooine. It's on the Outer Rim and is fairly isolated. We'll be fine there." Obi-Wan said.

Bail turned to Anakin and Padmé. "What of you? Where will you go? Palpatine will expect you to return to Naboo. You are welcome on Alderaan."

Padmé shook her head as Anakin said, "No. We can't endanger you like that. I was thinking Ansion. It's small, Mid Rim. Doesn't do much to attract attention. We'll be hiding in plain sight."

Hours later, the _Tantive IV, Pax_, and two smaller ships blasted out from Polis Massa, scattering across the galaxy to hide until the time was right to rejoin the rebellion that was already forming.

**OK, I'm going back through and, with the help of my awesome Creative Writing teacher, editing and re-writing parts of this story. Not to worry though, because I am still writing. Time now is not something I have a lot of.**

**Thanks everyone! I hope the character list helps and I'm sorry that there's no real update.**

**-CommChatter**


	2. Ansion

**Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas. I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars the Clone Wars, or anyone whose name sounds familiar. I did NOT create Jinn Skywalker. He was mentioned, once, very briefly in a Star Wars comic (graphic novel… whatever) in a vision Vader had of what could have been. I did create Grace Skywalker, loosely based on my sister.**

_~3 BBY, Ansion~_

The speeder garage was just like every other speeder garage she had had the misfortune of visiting.

Except that this time she didn't need to buy a speeder or have a defective one fixed. This time she was here to gather intelligence.

What her master wanted with a speeder garage on the small, unremarkable and backwater planet of Ansion, she didn't know. It wasn't her job to know. She just needed to get in and plant a few listening devices and get holos of the people who were there.

The door was old, she noted. One of the old hinged doors that had to be opened by turning an antiquated knob. There were two large overhead doors taking up the rest of the street side.

A speeder chassis was on blocks in one corner, the engine compartment a gaping black hole, its contents spread out over two work tables, looking for all the galaxy like the intestines of some large, mechanical monster.

There was a large skylight in the ceiling, the transparisteel allowing natural light to filter in, illuminating the garage far better than any amount of artificial lighting could. The transparisteel of the skylight and the windows were cleaner than she would have expected from a repair shop.

There was a shelf above one of the work tables with several trophies and holos of two human boys standing in front of an old T-16 Skyhopper, a speeder known for speed and maneuverability as well as its questionable safety.

There was a door between two of the eight work tables scattered around the large room, probably to some sort of office.

The Skyhopper from the holos was on blocks in the center of the shop, the two human boys that were there as well, having a heated debate over the engine. An old, pre-Clone War Artoo unit was perched precariously on the side of the speeder to better see the inside.

The droid was whistling and twittering, berating the boys in its electronic language.

"-still say that you pushed it too hard on that last turn. You're lucky it didn't blow out in the race." The taller boy, with blond hair curling around his ears said, wiping grease off his hands onto his already grease-stained coveralls.

"And instead Grace and I almost totaled it on the way home." The younger, shorter boy said. He had shorter blond hair and was wearing dark blue coveralls similar to his brother's.

"Jinn-" the older boy started, then turned to face her. "Can I help you?" suspicion radiated off him even as his voice was friendly. His suspicion made her realize that she had tried to probe them with the Force. Only Jedi and trained Force-sensitives would have been able to feel the soft brush against his mind.

She mentally smacked herself for the slip as she studied the two of them. The similarities between the two of them marked them as brothers. Wavy blond hair, their eyes the same shade of clear, crystal blue. Similar features although the younger teen, Jinn, she thought, had a widow's peak and a dimple on one cheek. He was shorter than his brother and she thought maybe fourteen of fifteen, his older brother in the sixteen –seventeen range. They were both gangly, not quite grown into their bodies.

"Just looking," she answered, stepping closer. "What's your name?" She was the picture of innocence as she spoke, batting her eyes in imitation of every other teenage girl they had met.

"Jinn. This is my brother, Luke," the younger of the two said. He has picked up the bait she had dropped, but Luke was still watching her distrustfully.

She nodded at the speeder. "What happened to it?"

That got a smirk out of Luke and an amused electronic twitter from the R2 unit, which had levered itself down from the speeder. Its blue dome swiveled and the droid's photoreceptor focused pointedly on Jinn, who turned bright red and glared at his brother and the droid.

"The repulsor-lifts blew out. It was fun trying to get it home." Luke said, sarcasm clear in the last statement.

"It wasn't my fault!" Jinn protested hotly. "I was rammed from behind! Something got knocked loose." He paused, then added, "I won the race though," the pride clear in his voice.

As Luke rolled his eyes, Jinn pulled a repulsor-lift mechanic's creeper towards him, muttering what sounded like Huttese curses at the skyhopper as he did so.

The droid ignited small rockets on two of its three legs, flew up to balance on the hood of the speeder, and hooted a derisive comment at Jinn, which elicited a snort from Luke and a "Shut up, Artoo," from Jinn, muffled and slightly tinny from the speeder's interference.

She watched the scene before her with interest, and when she was sure Luke and the Artoo unit were distracted, leaned against one of the work tables. Screws, nuts and bolt skittered away from her hand as she casually opened her fingers and released the small arachnid droids. The size of a fingernail, they would record and transmit conversations for two weeks before they would deactivate. They scuttled away, diving under bits of circuitry and off the table, scattering around the shop.

An electronic screech and a startled shout made her jump and she turned back to the skyhopper in time to see Jinn scramble out from under the chassis, the mechanic's creeper shot across the garage and bounced off the wall.

The skyhopper's repulsor-lifts fired again, only on one side, dumping the astromech droid in the duracrete floor where Luke had been standing seconds before. The speeder tipped again. The droid gave an electronic "Wheo!" as Luke darted forward and managed to shut the speeder off before it could work itself off the blocks.

A man's voice made them all jump. "I told you two to wait."

She backed away as the two boys spun. "Dad!

The man standing in front of them was about 6'2". He had wavy dark blond hair with blue eyes- the same shade as Luke's and Jinn's, she noted- a scar bisected his right eyebrow. He was wearing a long sleeved brown shirt and black pants. Black boots and a black glove on his right hand completed his ensemble.

It was none other than Anakin Skywalker, the 'Hero with no Fear', Jedi Knight and fugitive from the Empire.

She had never seen him in person, of course. He had vanished the same day that the Empire had risen and the Republic and Jedi had fell, two years before she had been born. But she had seen holos of him and Obi-Wan Kenobi, his former Jedi Master and best friend.

He looked much the same as he did then, except for the conspicuous lack of a lightsaber and a slight limp, the non-Jedi clothes, he looked exactly the same as he did in the holos.

She slipped out of the shop before she could hear anymore, hiding in the alley across the street, hidden in the shadows until the father and sons, followed by the astro droid, emerged from the garage as the lights flickered off and the large overhead doors ground shut. They locked the doors- all of them- and climbed into the speeder that the ex-Jedi had arrived in and drove away.

STAR WARS

When she was sure they were gone, she went back over to the garage, picked the lock, and slipped inside. She pulled a small glowrod from her pocket and quietly made her way to the door at the back of the shop.

She opened the door and moved inside. The lights came on automatically, making her jump and scan the room with her eyes and the Force. There was no one there. The lights were motion sensitive.

Releasing a breath she didn't realize she was holding, she moved around behind the datapad- and flimsi- covered desk with an old fashioned cushioned chair on wheels. There was a silent holoprojector on one corner of the desk, which she activated and watched as it cycled through a family holo: a petite human woman with brown hair and eyes sat on a stool. Anakin Skywalker stood behind her, arms wrapped around her shoulders, flanked on either side by Luke and a pretty brown haired, brown eyed girl who resembled their mother. Jinn stood in front of her, a wide grin on his face.

Standing in front of Luke was a little girl who looked to be about nine or ten. Her resemblance to Anakin was blatantly obvious, her long blonde hair arranged around her face and shoulders in delicate ringlets. She had the same chocolate brown eyes as her mother and sister, but the rest of her was pure Anakin Skywalker. Even her wide, childish smile was a reflection of her father's cocky grin.

The holo changed to Luke and the brown haired girl, a lifeday cake in front of them. A caption reading "Luke and Leia's sixteenth lifeday" scrolled across the bottom. The holo switched to one of the blonde little girl.

A pink and white lifeday cake was in front of her and she was sporting a wide grin. The caption read "Grace's tenth lifeday".

The holo changed to Jinn, whose lifeday cake was dark blue, the caption: Jinn's fourteenth lifeday".

The holos changed again and again while she moved around the office. Carefully, she planted a bug under the edge of the desk. Another she put under chair.

Pulling a datachip from her pocket, she copied all the holos from the projector. She deactivated the lights and holoprojector and slipped quietly out of the garage, locking the door behind her.

As she walked away, Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand, permitted herself a small, satisfied smile at a job well done.

**Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews! Your opinions matter to me! I have the next several chapters already written just not typed. Typing is the hardest part for me right now, but expect the next update in a few days. It starts out a little slow, but it will pick up, I promise.**

**Read and let me know what you think!**

**Happy Trails**

**-CommChatter**


	3. Decisions

**Here's the next chapter.**

**Anyone hear about what happened in Colorado at the midnight showing of Batman? How messed up is that?**

**All the families of those affected have my prayers and condolences**

**Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas. I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars the Clone Wars, or anyone whose name sounds familiar. I did NOT create Jinn Skywalker. He was mentioned, once, very briefly in a Star Wars comic (graphic novel… whatever) in a vision Vader had of what could have been. I did create Grace Skywalker, loosely based on my sister.**

******  
Dinner at the Skywalkers' house reminded Anakin of his time on the Jedi Cruisers in the mess halls: organized chaos. With four children between the ages of ten and sixteen, and two of them boys, the amount of food Padmé needed to make versus the amount Luke and Jinn were able to pack away was astonishing. Where did they put it all?

The kids all talked at once as they passed the food around- a roast nuna from the small flock Padmé kept, along with steamed vegetables and a mashed tuber. Padmé's cooking had improved drastically in the last sixteen years from her first abysmal attempt with cooking for their first dinner together.

Grace chattered about school as Luke regaled his mother and twin sister the story of Jinn's work on the skyhopper, making them laugh.

"Poor Artoo!"

"Jinn, you should have warned him!"

Jinn stared at his mother and older sister. "The speeder almost fell on me, and I should have warned Artoo that the repulsor-lifts were faulty? I didn't mean to fire them. They fired by themselves. And besides, Artoo's worked with Dad long enough to know to expect the unexpected,"

Anakin and Padmé both chuckled as other three Skywalker children laughed. They had heard enough of the stories of Anakin's exploits during the Clone Wars to understand exactly what Jinn meant. Geonosis (both missions) being the most memorable, what with the undead warriors, brain worms, reeks, acklays, nexus and other undesirable creatures and people they had encountered.

Another story Anakin had told them was of Artoo's capture at the hands of the Separatists.

The story that had scared Jinn, Luke, and Leia the most (Padmé had decided that Grace was too young to hear it) was the fateful mission to Utapau that had saved his, Obi-Wan's and Ahsoka's lives.

Obi-Wan had survived his plunge off the cliff and into hundreds of feet of water, while Anakin had escaped from the _Resolute _with a hyperspace ring before he had been shot down and/or killed.

Ahsoka had been assisted by none other than Rex, who had helped her fight off the other clones of his company and escape. Ahsoka had been gravely wounded and Rex had kept them both alive while evading other clone patrols for almost two months before Anakin and Obi-Wan had been able to come looking for her. They had helped her hide on her homeworld of Shili, where she hopefully still was. Anakin hadn't spoken to her since Grace had been born- for their own safety.

Rex was now working with a resistance cell training commandos and underground operatives, where his obvious clone visage wouldn't cause too much fear or confusion from the locals.

C-3P0 and Artoo were standing in a corner and listening to the stories of the day being traded by their human masters.

"Oh, my, Artoo, at least there wasn't any immediate danger," Threepio said, evidently remembering his many misadventures with Anakin and Artoo as well.

In response, Artoo twittered a slightly insulted and insulting response that left Threepio stuttering incoherently. Any response worth giving required the use of vulgar language and, he reasoned, Mistress Grace was within earshot of him. Threepio didn't want to add to her already impressive shop vocabulary. Masters Anakin, Luke and Jinn had already taught her enough, he decided.

Of course, Mistress Padmé didn't know that. If she was put out that Grace was more mechanically inclined like her brothers and father, instead of politics like her mother and sister, Padmé didn't show it.

If she did find out about the choice Corellian and Huttese curses that the mechanics of her family employed, Grace would undoubtedly be banished from the garage. And possibly Luke and Jinn as well. Which was why the four mechanics and the droids were sworn to secrecy. No one told Padmé or Leia, or they would all get in trouble.

Anakin for teaching it to the boys, the boys for using it, and Grace and the droids for not telling Padmé and employing the language respectively.

Threepio's line of thought was interrupted as Grace grabbed Luke and Leia's hands, pulling them to the plate glass sliding doors at the back of the room.

"Come on, Luke, Leia, let's go catch glowbugs!"

As Grace pulled the twins out into the rapidly waning light, Leia caught Jinn's forearm with her free hand as he tried to escape to the safety of his chambers.

"Leia!" when he tried to free himself from the vise-like grip she had on his arm, Luke grabbed the other arm. Together the twins frog marched him outside just in time to catch the end of a spectacular sunset.

Sharing a grin, the twins released Jinn, who gave them a disgruntled glare.

"We can't let you miss out on all the fun, Jinn. We would be neglecting our duties as older siblings," Leia said, a grin like their father's on her face, brown eyes sparkling.

The sky was darkening, although the clouds were reflecting the last bits of red, orange, yellow and pink were fading as the two middle Skywalkers watched.

A delighted shriek caught their attention, and Jinn and Leia turned to see Luke laid out on his back, getting mauled by Grace and the family's large black dog, Lily, one of the many 'pathetic lifeforms' that Jinn had brought home, and the only one Anakin had allowed the kids to keep.

"Leia! Jinn! Help, I'm getting-" Luke cried plaintively, but was cut off when Lily started to lick his face, her wet pink tongue quickly swiping across his mouth and nose. He grabbed Grace by her waist and pulled her down next to him. She screamed and wiggled as her brother tickled her. Lily transferred her assault to the shrieking ten year-old.

Jinn and Leia were leaning against the porch, gasping with laughter.

Anakin and Padmé watched the scene unfolding in front of them, trying and failing to not laugh at Luke's plight as Jinn and Leia joined in the assault, eliciting a "Hey! Four on one isn't fair!" from Luke as Lily wormed her way into the middle, her tongue swiping at any face that came within reach, her main target now Jinn, who gave a weak protest before he was again pulled into the fray.

When Padmé looked up, she saw Anakin smiling at the group in front of them.

"Sometimes I wish we had done this after Geonosis. The first time," Anakin mused.

"You don't miss the Jedi? Going on missions with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka?" She asked, leaning her shoulders back into his chest. Anakin wrapped his arms around her waist, his eyes never leaving their children. It was now every man (or woman) for themselves, with the dog sowing extra chaos by attacking at random.

"No, I miss the Jedi. Some of the best times I had were when Obi-Wan and I were on missions together. But I'm kind of glad we don't have to be constantly on the move. I just wish we didn't have to hide to do it. Under different circumstances, I would have welcomed this-" he broke off and looked down at her. "Don't you miss the Senate?"

Padmé smiled at him. "Sometimes. Mostly I miss some of my fellow senators. Bail and Mon. Bel Iblis was a good man too.

"I can live without the bureaucracy though, and the corrupt senators," she paused and looked up at him again before focusing on their children. "I agree though. If the Jedi and Republic still stood, I would feel better bowing out officially."

Anakin looked down at her again. "I spoke to Rex earlier. They're consolidating."

Padmé's surprise was palpable through the Force. "And you want to join them," It wasn't a question. "And if you go, do you really think that Luke and Jinn won't want to go too?" She pulled away from Anakin to look him in the eye.

He smiled tightly. "Aren't you forgetting someone? Where ever Luke goes, Leia goes too. I wouldn't want to cross the three of them in combat." He paused, then looked at her shrewdly. "Are you really telling me that if Mon Mothma commed you right now, you would refuse to get involved?" As he spoke his voice got lower and more incredulous.

She sighed. "Anakin, I do want to get involved. I want to see Palpatine dead just as much as you. I really do. But a war zone is not a place to raise children or test out their lightsaber skills!

"The stormtroopers won't be shooting stingers at them! It'll be live ammunition and one wrong move will mean they die!" In contrast to his voice, Padmé's grew steadily louder until she shouted the word 'die'.

The ruckus in the yard died almost at once as their brood picked up on their emotions through the Force. Luke snatched at a glowbug and presented it to Grace, who squealed in delight, promptly forgetting the argument between their parents.

Padmé lowered her voice, and continued in almost a hiss. "What about Grace? She's too young to be on a military base. She shouldn't have to live in fear of the base being attacked or her father and siblings not coming back from a mission!

"And Jinn! He's only fourteen! He and the twins should only be worrying about their grades in school, not flying starfighters or fighting Sith Lords!"

Anakin ran his flesh-and-blood hand through his dark blond hair. "Padmé, I was younger than Grace the first time I flew a starfighter in combat. Or did you forget that?" He was, of course, referring to the Battle of Naboo, when he had destroyed the Trade Federation's droid control ship at the tender age of nine. He wasn't done. "Ahsoka was thirteen when she became my padawan. She was at almost every major engagement with the Separatists until the war ended, when she was Luke and Leia's age." He hesitated, then plunged onward. "And besides, they need Jedi."

Padmé opened her mouth to protest, but Anakin cut her off. "They are Jedi, Padmé. Luke, Leia, and Jinn are all capable of doing what I was capable of when I was first Knighted,"

"As for Grace," he sighed. "She's too recognizable to send to Alderaan. Your parents don't even know we're alive, so we can't send her to Naboo-" he broke off, then said, "There's Tatooine."

Padmé stared at Anakin for almost a full minute before repeating incredulously, "_Tatooine?_ Are you_ insane? _You haven't spoken to Owen and Beru since your mother died! You can't just waltz in and say 'Hi, remember me? I know I haven't spoken to you for almost twenty years, but can you keep my ten year-old daughter safe while my sons daughter and I fight a war?' Somehow, I don't think Owen would go for that!-"

She paused for breath and Anakin held up his hand. "We'll have to talk about that later." He raised his voice. "Alright kids! Time to go in and get ready for bed!"

There was a chorus of groans and "Aw, dad,"s as they came in.

"Look, Daddy! Glowbugs!" Grace bounded up to Anakin and Padmé, brandishing a small glass jar that had somehow survived the earlier tussle.

She was small for a ten year-old, and Anakin swooped her up into his arms and flung her over his shoulder, tickling her ribs, making her wriggle and giggle and give a loud shriek, making Lily growl. Shifting Grace again, Anakin examined the glass jar.

"Wow, Grace. What are you going to do with them now that you have them?"

Grace wrapped her arms around Anakin's neck and rested her head against his shoulder, eyes already half closed. "I'll let them go tomorrow. I'm gonna use them as a night light tonight."

Anakin smiled at Padmé over Grace's shoulder. "That sounds like a good idea, Gracie,"

The sun had gone completely down, blanketing the sky in velvety blackness, Ansion's two moons were starting to rise with the first of the stars. Occasionally Anakin could pick out the glow of ion drives as spaceships descended into the atmosphere.

******  
Later that night, Anakin and Padmé went down into the bunker-like basement under the house.

When they had bought the house shortly after the twins' birth at the asteroid colony of Polis Massa, the basement has been full of a boiler, stored stuff and the general creepiness that goes hand-in-hand with an uninhabited house.

After they had moved in, Anakin had cleaned out the basement, rebuilt, remodeled and sound proofed it. He had also made the entrance a trapdoor so that no one else knew about it. The basement had served as the lightsaber combat training dojo for Anakin and the kids. When the twins and Jinn were nine and seven, Anakin had started training them with low powered lightsabers like the ones the younglings at the Jedi Temple had used when training against the seeker droids. Anakin's children had done the same thing.

The twins had built their own lightsabers at fourteen, and Jinn had just finished his. Grace was still training against seeker droids, while her brothers and sister were sparring with (and on occasion defeating) their father. Luke was by far the best swordsman of the group, and the only one who could best Anakin with any sort of regularity.

Activating a dozen seeker droids, Anakin ignited his 'saber and pivoted quickly, his sky blue blade intercepted two seekers, and sent them one after another into one of the many droids that prowled around him.

"Anakin, you didn't want me to come down here to watch you practice your swordsmanship. What do you want to talk about?"

Anakin batted several bolts back at their shooters. The seeker droids clattered to the floor. "Tomorrow will be the twentieth anniversary of the Battle of Geonosis. Twenty years ago the Clone War started and my mother died." He skittered sideways to avoid a blast and flipped his lightsaber, almost casually around behind his back to block another stinger.

He paused, then grinned impishly. Sidestepping another stinger, he said, "Don't you think it would be nice to go out to dinner? No kids, just us for one night in the city." As he spoke, he batted two more stingers back at the remotes, which fell silently deactivated to the floor.

One droid seemed to have gotten brave, and zoomed in from above, preforming a swan dive to fire its bolt, then trying to pull up and escape. No such luck. A Force push from Anakin bounced the droid off the ceiling, it joined the rapidly growing number of droids on the floor.

"Anakin Skywalker! Are you suggesting we leave all four children here, alone, by themselves?" Padmé affected a pose of mock horror. "How will they survive?"

The last seeker darted forward, firing rapidly. Anakin's lightsaber was a blur of white-blue light as he batted the stingers away from himself, before scoring a direct hit on the droid. He stood there surveying the cybernetic carnage. Then he turned to look at her.

"It's only for a few hours. If they're starving they can go through the cooler unit."

Padmé underhanded a towel at his face, he snatched it out of the air. As he swiped it across his face, and shoulders, she said, "That sounds like a wonderful idea. Just make sure they know they can't use their lightsabers upstairs, okay?" Images of the last time they had left the kids there alone running through her mind.

Evidently thinking the same thing, Anakin bowed, grinning. "My lady's wish is my command,"

Padmé eyed him speculatively. "Really?"

"Of course," Anakin said, sensing where the conversation was going.

She stood from the chair she had been sitting in and took his hand, leading him to the stairs.

"Come to bed then,"

**And so it begins.**

**What do you think? Like it? Hate it? Suggestions? All are welcomed as long as I get a reason behind it. Remember, your opinions matter to me!**

**Happy Trails**

**-CommChatter**


	4. The Calm Before

**Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas. I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars the Clone Wars, or anyone whose name sounds familiar. I did NOT create Jinn Skywalker. He was mentioned, once, very briefly in a Star Wars comic (graphic novel… whatever) in a vision Vader had of what could have been. I did create Grace Skywalker, loosely based on my sister.**

**Thank you to those of you who have reviewed! It makes me feel great that you all like it! So, without further ado: Chapter four!**

The Imperial Major General smiled to himself as he listened to the recording of the conversation the red-headed girl had brought him.

Anakin Skywalker! The 'Hero with no Fear' himself!

Skywalker had been able to escape the clones who had tried to kill him when Order 66 went out. Kenobi and Tano, Skywalker's loyal sidekicks had never been accounted for either.

The girl sitting across from him couldn't have been much older than fifteen. She leaned forward, green eyes hard.

"Now do you believe me?" She asked, nothing but her voice betraying her annoyance at being doubted.

Major General Angotto picked up the family holocube and stared hard at the mother's face. "Who's she? It's Skywalker the Emperor wants; I don't want to get innocents mixed up in this,"

Angotto reflected that he was one of the few Imperials left who cared about the people caught in the crossfire between the Empire and the increasingly vocal and dangerous rebels.

The girl, who had refused to give her name, pushed a datachip across the desk.

"See for yourself. She's just as wanted as Skywalker is,"

Frowning, he picked up the chip and inserted it into his datapad. He read it once, then again, just to make sure he read it right, then again, just to be sure.

"Padmé Amidala! Senator Padmé Amidala from Naboo!" He stared at the unnamed girl across from him incredulously.

She smiled sweetly at him. "I believe it's Amidala Skywalker now."

Angotto mentally rolled his eyes. _Obviously_ Amidala had married Skywalker. Why else would they have four children? It was the age of the twins, Luke and Leia, that had him interested. They were sixteen, turning seventeen in a few months' time. They had been born on Empire Day, ironically enough.

Amidala had been nine months pregnant when the Republic had fallen and _no one_ had noticed. She had hidden her pregnancy, but if the twins were Skywalker's, and the boy's resemblance to his father screamed Skywalker, the Jedi would have identified and taken them immediately.

Which meant that Skywalker and Amidala had meant to disappear before the Emperor had taken over. Or did they? It was an interesting conundrum, one that he would have to puzzle over later.

Now, though, he had to set a trap for the Jedi.

STAR WARS

Jinn flopped backward onto his bed. "I can't believe they're leaving us here!" He was fuming.

Luke leaned against the door, stopping the gears from automatically closing it.

"It's only for a few hours Jinn. It's not like anything is going to happen," He said, hiding his amusement behind carefully erected shields.

Jinn glared balefully at him from under the arm he had thrown over his face. "You don't know that,"

Luke gave a long suffering sigh, then said, "Did you ever think that Mom and Dad might _want_ to go out by themselves? I mean, after dealing with you for the past fourteen years, don't they deserve a break?" His last statement was said in a lightly joking tone.

"Fifteen," Jinn corrected.

Luke rolled his eyes skyward. "You're turning fifteen in two months. Therefore, you're still fourteen."

"Whatever," A devilish grin spread across Jinn's face. "Did you ever stop to think that Mom and Dad want a break from you and Leia? I mean, they've put up with you the longest,"

Luke snorted. "I don't know what you're talking about. You and Grace are the troublemakers-" Jinn opened his mouth to protest, but Luke plowed on. "-after all, it was you that put your lightsaber through the wall, and Grace that brought that tree-myre in the house,"

"Hey! The lightsaber incident was not my fault!" Jinn protested.

Luke raised an eyebrow. "No? You're the one who brought the seeker upstairs. You're the one who poked the hole in the wall. So how wasn't it your fault?" He crossed his arms over his chest; his resemblance to their father even more striking as he adopted a pose similar to Anakin's whenever he was angry at the boys.

Jinn deflated slightly, but he protested anyway. "You were the one to suggest we use the seeker droids,"

"Yeah, downstairs," Luke was grinning again, not even trying to hide his amusement.

Rolling his eyes, Jinn pulled the small chrono into his hand with the Force and threw it at Luke, who bolted away from the door. It cycled closed and the chrono impacted the door.

Luke shook his head at the closed door. "Jeez. Touchy,"

STAR WARS

"How long will you be gone?"

Anakin rolled his eyes at Padmé over Grace's head. The kids were acting like they were running away.

"Gracie, honey, we're only going out to dinner. We'll be gone at eleven hundred and back by twenty hundred. It's only for a few hours. We just need you to listen to Luke, Leia and Jinn, okay?"

The ten year-old looked unconvinced. "You'll be gone for _ten hours_." Her voice took on a whining note. "And do I have to listen to Jinn? I know he's older than me, but he acts like a little kid sometimes."

Behind Grace, Anakin snorted. Padmé glared at him over the counter.

Grace swiveled her stool around to face Anakin. "He does!" She paused then and looked at her father seriously. "I have a bad feeling about this, Dad,"

Anakin immediately became serious and knelt down to his daughter's level. "What kind of bad feeling Gracie?"

She frowned, thinking. "Something's going to happen. I don't know what."

Anakin thought for a moment. "Maybe Jinn's going to put another hole in the wall?" He suggested.

Grace shook her head. "No,"

"Nothing too scary, right?" Anakin asked.

Grace frowned again. "I don't know." Then she shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Maybe we can watch the Holonet,"

"I'm sure your brothers would love that." Padmé said. "Tell Luke there's a pizza in the fridge, okay?"

Grace nodded. "Okay Mom,"

STAR WARS

The kids gathered in the large living room by the front door to bid their parents goodbye.

Anakin stood by the door impatiently as Padmé gave the kids last minute instructions.

"Don't forget to feed Lily-"

"Okay, Mom," Luke and Leia exchanged amused glances.

"-there's pizza in the freezer unit-"

"Grace told me, Mom," Luke was doing his best to keep a straight face.

"-No lightsabers upstairs. If you want to spar, do it downstairs,"

"Mom!" Leia interrupted. "We know. Now go, we'll be fine,"

"Are you sure? I-"

"Yes, Mom! Go and have fun with Dad. Nothing's going to happen!" Leia interrupted again. Both Jinn and Luke we too preoccupied hiding their amusement to be much help assuring their mother that, yes, they would be fine. Grace was perched on the arm of one of the two sofas petting Lily.

Padmé swept them all into quick hugs, then turned to Artoo and Threepio.

"Keep an eye on them," she said.

Artoo beeped an affirmative as Threepio said, "Of course, Mistress Padmé, everything will be just as you left it, I assure you-"

"We believe you, Threepio," Anakin said, taking Padmé's arm and leading her to the door. "We love you. Behave and have fun," He eyed Jinn pointedly.

"We'll be fine, Dad," Jinn said, rolling his eyes.

Finally Anakin and Padmé left, driving in their speeder to the lights of Ansion's capital city, a good hundred fifty kilometers from their house.

Jinn vaulted over the back of the couch. "What was all that about? I mean, how much trouble can we get into here?"

STAR WARS

The pizza was gone almost as quickly as it was made and the hologames had quickly become boring.

They were playing sabacc, a game their father (much to Padmé's annoyance) had taught them. Rex had taught Anakin and Ahsoka to play during the war.

The sad thing was, Grace was the best player. She had an innate ability to pick things out of people's minds and she was now using that ability to thoroughly fleece her brothers into cleaning her chambers for the next month.

"This is embarrassing! We're losing to a ten year-old!" Jinn said, throwing down his cards in disgust as Grace won another round.

"It could be worse." Leia said, looking up from her datapad. She had bowed out after it became clear that Grace was winning.

"How could it be worse? I lost to my ten year-old baby sister! I have to clean her room for a month!" Jinn said, conveniently forgetting that he had said he would.

Leia rolled her eyes at her younger brother. "You bet cleaning rooms. Both of you," she looked at Luke, including him in her assessment. "And besides, you could be losing to Artoo. Or Threepio."

"_That_ would be embarrassing. Luke said. "At least we're losing together,"

Jinn rolled his eyes. "Luke, that's not comforting at all,"

Grace smiled sweetly at her brothers. "You could quit now,"

Her brothers were too stubborn to admit defeat. They wanted to win their cleaning duties off on Grace. It wasn't working.

"No!" they both cried at the same time.

Jinn dealt out another hand of cards.

Luke froze suddenly. "Grace, take Threepio and Lily down to the basement. Now." His tone gave no room for argument.

Grace stood, picking up on his thoughts and emotions immediately. She grabbed Lily's collar and led her to the trapdoor. "Come on, Threepio."

"Oh, my, Master Luke, what is going on?" Threepio asked nervously.

"Go with Grace. Stay down there until I tell you it's safe. Go!" Luke's voice was scared, urgent.

Threepio picked up on the nuances of his voice and for once shut up and did as asked. The protocol droid followed the girl and dog down the stairs.

Jinn and Leia stood and joined Luke.

"Luke what's-"

The front door exploded inward.

**It really begins now! Chapter five will begin with Anakin and Padmé's dinner. Things get interesting.**

**Read and let me know what you think! Your opinion matters to me! Any questions and/or suggestions you can either PM me or just put it in your review and I'll do my best to answer.**

**Thanks,**

**Happy Trails**

**-CommChatter**


	5. The Storm

**Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas. I do not own Star Wars, Star Wars the Clone Wars, or anyone whose name sounds familiar. I did NOT create Jinn Skywalker. He was mentioned, once, very briefly in a Star Wars comic (graphic novel… whatever) in a vision Vader had of what could have been. I did create Grace Skywalker, loosely based on my sister.**

**Star Wars**

Anakin and Padmé had found an authentic Nubian restaurant. Holos of monarchs past lined the walls. A holo of the official and historic peace treaty between Boss Nass and the Queen Amidala; the unification of the Gungans and humans in the capital city of Theed took up an entire wall.

Anakin noticed that he and Obi-Wan were in the background. Trying not to gawk, he examined his nine year-old self.

"Jinn and Luke looked a lot like me at that age, didn't they?"

Padmé smiled and took his hand. "They still do, dear," she said.

They were through dinner and talking about dessert when Anakin felt sudden fear and confusion from Luke, Leia and Jinn. The confusion was quickly replaced by pain and panic. As the turbulent emotions assaulted him, Anakin sorted the panic as Grace's, pain from Luke and Jinn, the confusion was mainly Leia's.

His reaction was noticeable enough that Padmé asked, "Anakin? What's wrong?"

He leaned forward, getting ready to stand. "The kids. They're in trouble,"

She stood with him. "What?"

The doors to the restaurant cycled open and an entire company of stormtroopers came in through the kitchen, front and back doors. Anakin and Padmé moved into the aisle as the white armored troopers surrounded them.

"We're in trouble," Anakin commented, igniting his lightsaber.

STAR WARS

Somebody screamed. Luke wasn't sure who.

He had Force-pushed Leia and Jinn away just as the door blew inward. Leia landed behind the sofa, and Jinn was thrown through the doorway to the adjoining kitchen. Therefore Luke caught the brunt of the explosion and shockwave, as well as splinters from the door in the face and chest.

He landed on his back five feet away from the place he had been standing. The shock wave had thrown him back over the table that they had abandoned their sabacc cards on and landed on some broken glass. He felt the glass cut his back on impact.

He was dazed, but not dazed enough to not catch a glimpse of white armor. It took him a few seconds to process what he was seeing. Then he realized what they were. Stormtroopers!

Luke groaned as they rolled him over. He tensed as the cool metal of binders encircled his wrists behind his back. He tried to fight, but one of the troopers knelt on his back, effectively negating all his attempts to break free.

They hauled him to his feet and thoroughly frisked him, coming up with his lightsaber and modest sabacc winnings of twenty credits from Jinn.

Luke swayed and almost fell as more stormtroopers came into the room leading Leia and Jinn, both in binders. Jinn looked dazed, and blood ran down the side of his face from his scalp.

"Luke!" Leia cried, she was pale and scared but looked even more worried when she saw her twin, bruised and bloody.

"I'm okay." Luke said, his voice quavered, betraying the pain he was feeling. "Jinn? You okay?"

Jinn managed to give his escorts irritated glares as his head stopped spinning. "I'm pretty sure I have a concussion. You couldn't have pushed me much harder, could you? I hit the freezer." He sounded even more irritated than he looked.

The troopers leading them gave Jinn a shove, causing him to stumble. "Shut up,"

They were pushed out the ruined front door and into the yard where an Imperial captain stood by an armored troop transport.

He looked up from the six inch projection of an Imperial major. "Where's the fourth? There's supposed to be four."

The stormtroopers pulled Luke, Leia and Jinn to a stop. "These three were the only ones we found in the house, sir. We will begin scanning for lifeforms as soon as they clear the house," the lead stormtrooper said.

The projected major spoke. "I need holos of the three you do have. The parents may be… more reasonable knowing we have them." He paused and studied Luke and Jinn's current states. "Have a medic see to their injuries. I believe that Skywalker will be more cooperative given his reported volatile temperament,"

The unnamed major turned back to the captain. "Were they armed?"

The captain glanced at the stormtrooper who seemed to be in command of the squad. The trooper handed over Luke's, Leia's, and Jinn's lightsabers.

"Jedi." The major scoffed. "I would have thought that Skywalker would have been more careful. These-" he gestured at the 'sabers, "-are all the evidence we need to have the three of you executed here and now." He paused, but the three's lack of reaction spurred him on. "Fortunately for you, Lord Maul and the Emperor want to meet you and your father," the blue projection smiled as Luke and Jinn traded uncertain looks. Leia just glared.

The major continued. "Bring them back to the base and send them to the _Executor_ immediately. There will be a shuttle waiting,"

The captain barely had time to give a salute and a "Yes sir," before the blue hologram winked out.

The three Skywalkers were poked, prodded and shoved up the ramp to the transport. The ramp cycled closed, shutting out the stars. It closed with an ominous thud.

STAR WARS

"We're doomed," Threepio moaned. Then he looked at Grace, who was huddled in a corner, crying silently into Lily's fur.

His pessimism wasn't helping their current situation. But he did know someone who could.

The stormtroopers could scan the house all they wanted, but they wouldn't find the basement. Master Anakin had seen to that.

Threepio decided to bemoan their fate later and crossed over to the small holocomm that Anakin and Luke had installed there years before for just such an emergency. Activating the comm unit, Threepio ran through his (admittedly short) list of contacts safe to, well, contact.

He came up with three. Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Rex.

Inputting the correct frequency, Threepio waited for someone to answer.

STAR WARS

The beings at the surrounding tables gasped and moved away from the stormtroopers as they cut through and between the tables, surrounding Anakin and Padmé completely.

They stood back to back, Anakin's lightsaber glowed sky blue, he held it in the classic Djem So guard position. Padmé had a blaster drawn and ready.

An Imperial major walked down the aisle, the stormtroopers moved to make a path for him. "Anakin Skywalker, before you do anything rash, I suggest you listen to what I have to tell you," he paused, evidently waiting for a response.

Anakin eyed him warily. "You know me. I don't know you. What do you want?"

The Major smiled. "I am Major Pierce. What I want is to arrest you and the ex-Senator here for conspiracy against the Empire, escape from the Galactic Army and being a Jedi.

"I must also compel you to surrender." Reaching into a pocket of his black major's uniform; he withdrew a small black holoprojector. He tossed it to Anakin, who caught it left-handed and activated it.

A holo of Luke, Leia, and Jinn greeted them. Their hands were in binders behind their backs and they were surrounded by stormtroopers. They were all scared, and Jinn looked more than a little angry. Leia was pale and looked shaken. Luke's face was expressionless, but anger burned in his expressive blue eyes.

"No!" Padmé gasped, staring at the holo. Anakin understood the impressions he had gotten from the four now. Padmé turned to him, but she didn't need to even ask the question.

Anakin glared at Major Pierce. "He's telling the truth,"

Pierce smiled and waved a military style comlink. "They're expecting an order to stand down or kill them within the next five minutes. If I don't call in their default orders are to kill them immediately."

Stretching out through the Force, Anakin felt Luke's confirmation of Major Pierce's statement. _Hold tight, my sons, my daughter. _Anakin thought, _Hold tight._

"Your decision, Jedi Skywalker?" Pierce pressed.

In later years, when Anakin would reflect upon this moment, he would realize that he hadn't even hesitated. There wasn't a choice, and if there was, he didn't even consider the option of allowing three of his four children to die. He deactivated his lightsaber and dropped it, letting it roll to Major Pierce's feet.

"Alright. But if you touch them, it will be the last thing you ever do," It wasn't an idle threat, but Pierce seemed to disregard that as the stormtroopers moved in to take them both down.

Five of the six Skywalkers had been captured. The last and youngest had evaded capture, but troops were already searching for her. Major General Angotto decided to send the five he did have to Imperial Center.

The 'Hero with No Fear' whose exploits were on par with all children's superheroes, had been captured at last.

Star Wars

**What do you think? Sorry to those of you who thought that the stormtroopers were going to get their butts kicked. I wouldn't have a story if the kids weren't caught.**

**Thoughts? Suggestions? Reviews are always appreciated!**

**Happy Trails**

**-CommChatter**


	6. Safety

**The usual disclaimers apply. I am not George Lucas, the only characters I currently own are Ardeth Vao, Grace Skywalker and Raoul Tano. **

**Be sure to read my request at the end! I need help!**

STAR WARS

Raoul Tano stared out of the viewport of his mother's star ship,_ Star Franchise_, as the small world came into view. A_ Victory_ _I_-class star destroyer orbited the planet.

He leaned forward in the co-pilot's seat to get a better look at the bone-white war machine. It wasn't as impressive, as, say, the _Executor_ or even one of the _Imperial_-class star destroyers, at only one kilometer long, but it easily dwarfed the small Corellian freighter that they were flying.

"Uh, Mom, you sure this is a good idea?" Raoul asked, nervously.

Ahsoka Tano didn't take her eyes off the viewport as she answered. "I'm sure, Raoul. Just don't act like we're here to cause trouble." She shifted her blue eyes to meet Raoul's expressive green ones. She handed her lightsaber and shoto to him. "Put these and yours in the smuggler's compartment. They might board us."

Raoul grimaced and drew his white marked eyebrows together, his montrails twitched slightly. "Don't they have better things to do than pick on us?"

Ahsoka smiled slightly. "One would think,"

Behind her the comm crackled. _"We have you on our scopes. Transmit identification immediately. Try to run and you will be shot down."_

Ahsoka shook her head and, leaning forward, she said, "Transmission commencing," and flipped a switch to transmit the standard I.D. of _Star Franchise._

Raoul reappeared in the cockpit and dropped down into the copilot's seat. "They threaten to kill us yet?" he was only half joking.

She turned slightly to face him. "They said 'shot down' and not 'destroyed'. Does that count?"

Raoul pretended to think about it. "The outcome is the same. I think it does," he swiveled his chair to face her. "Now what?"

Ahsoka smiled at the eagerness her son was trying so hard to hide. This had been Raoul's first hyperspace jump and his first time away from his homeworld of Shili, the Togruta homeplanet. And despite it all, he was still a fifteen year-old male. As with all teenaged males everywhere, he was fascinated by spaceflight. He reminded her of Skyguy, actually.

When Ahsoka had started training him to be a Jedi they had left the Togruta tribe Raoul had grown up with to protect the others as well as themselves. They had been alone in the wilds, training in lightsaber combat and the ways of the Force. Raoul's father had been killed shortly after he had been born in a large brush fire. He didn't remember him at all. Ahsoka had raised him by herself.

Before she could answer him, the comm pinged again. The comm officer said, with the usual Imperial monotone,_ "Proceed to the surface, and land in the main spaceport,"_

Ahsoka leaned forward. "Acknowledged," She throttled up the sublight engines and flew _Star Franchise _towards the planet.

STAR WARS

"So this is Ansion. I have to admit, I like Shili better." Ahsoka had to smile at her son's statement.

They had left Ansion's capital city far behind and were now driving their rented speeder to the tiny town that her former Jedi master and his family had settled in. There wasn't much to look at. They were driving between fields and small, self-sustaining farms.

Raoul slumped down low in his seat and yawned widely. "So, where are we going exactly?"

"Anakin lived on the other side of the town." Ahsoka said, starting to guide the speeder through the town.

The town's main speeder garage was cordoned off, with stormtroopers and other Imperial officers going in out of the doors.

Raoul sat up to get a better look. Squinting, he said, "Looks like they tore that place apart. Isn't that where they used to work?" At his mother's nod, he continued. "What are they looking for? The little girl?"

Ahsoka shook her head, montrails swinging. "No. If anything, they're looking for information on the Alliance. I doubt Anakin had anything, though," She smiled. "He never was one for paperwork."

"Mom, what about his wife, uh," Raoul racked his brain, "Padmé? She was a senator, wouldn't she keep stuff?"

"She would," Ahsoka agreed. "I worked with Padmé several times during the war. She's very good at hiding things she doesn't want others to find. Although I don't think she would keep anything where she couldn't get to it quickly." Ahsoka frowned, thinking about what she remembered about the ex-senator. "She'd never write anything down about the Alliance. They won't find anything," She said confidently.

Raoul nodded. "Okay." He leaned forward and pointed. "Here, there's the turn off,"

Ahsoka pulled the speeder off the road. "We're walking from here,"

STAR WARS

"Well this _sucks_," Jinn said, pacing around the cell he was sharing with Luke and Leia.

The cell was an 8x8 box with two metal bunk beds. Each bunk was equipped with a thin mattress and an even thinner blanket.

Sighing, Leia sank down onto one of the bottom bunks. Luke sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"We'll be fine, Leia. You know that." Luke's reassurance sounded false to his own ears.

She turned her head to look up at her twin. "How, Luke? They have Mom and Dad. They caught _Dad_. No one's coming after us. We're on our own." Her voice shook as she spoke.

Jinn swung around and punched wall. Lifting his left hand, he examined his split and bloody knuckles. He shook his hand, droplets of blood spattered the floor.

"Feel better?" Leia asked sarcastically.

Jinn spun to face her. "No! I don't feel better! We're trapped here, Mom and Dad are Force knows where, and we don't even know if Grace is still alive!"

"You don't have to take it out on us, or yourself!" Leia shot back.

"What in the nine hells do you want me to do then? I-!"

"Hey!" Luke, who had been silent up until that point, shot to his feet and stepped between them. "That's enough, both of you!" his twin and younger brother stared at Luke in surprise. When he continued, his voice was softer. "Jinn, Grace is fine. We would know if something had happened to her. The same with Mom and Dad. Grace is probably safer than we are now." He sighed and sank back down. "We have to get ourselves out of here. Fighting now won't help, so get over it now, because I don't have the time or patience for it." He continued softly. "Anger and fear are of the Dark Side,"

Jinn seemed to sag under that pronouncement. He sank onto the bunk across from Luke's and ran a shaking hand through his hair. " Luke, I'm sorry. I just-" he broke off, searching for the right word.

"You're scared." It was a statement, and Jinn knew there was no point in arguing. Luke's next statement caught him off guard. "So am I. So's Leia." From her position leaning against the wall, Leia nodded.

"Jinn," she said gently, "If you weren't worried or scared , we would seriously think that you're crazy. To be scared is to be human."

Jinn shook his head. "We're Jedi. We're better than this."

The twins rolled their eyes at each other. Letting himself fall backward onto the bed, Luke spoke through their twin bond. _You explain._

Leia pushed herself off the wall and sat next to her younger brother. "Something that Dad told me a long time ago is that it's alright to be scared. It's human to be scared. What matters is how we react, what we do about it. How we react is what makes us Jedi." _Or Sith, s_he mentally added.

Taking a deep breath, Jinn released his fear to the Force._ Ok,_ he thought, _We can do this._

Feeling the sudden change in Jinn's thoughts and Force-presence, Leia grinned and Luke sat up. "Now do you get it?" Luke asked, looking more like their father than usual.

Jinn gaped at them. "You did that on purpose!" he accused.

The twins exchanged a glance. Luke shrugged. "No one could teach you that."

"You needed to figure it out for yourself," Leia seconded.

Deciding to be annoyed later, Jinn clapped his hands together. "Now, let's see what we can do to get out of here,"

STAR WARS

Raoul clutched his lightsaber like a lifeline as he and Ahsoka crouched in the trees behind the house.

It had once been beautiful, he thought, but the aesthetic appeal of it had been greatly diminished, from what he could see. The front and back doors had been blown off their hinges, flowers ripped up and trampled, and there were large gouges in the yard from some large, heavy, vehicle, probably a troop transport's landing struts.

Looking at his mother, Raoul said, "There's only one lifeform that I sense,"

Opening her eyes, Ahsoka shook her head. "There's another in the trees over there," she whispered, pointing. "She's well trained in the ways of the Force. I almost didn't notice her."

Raoul shifted his feet slightly. "Maybe it's Leia?" he suggested, not liking the other option.

Ahsoka shook her head again and pushed one of her montrails back over her shoulder. "No, it's not Leia."

"Another Jedi?" Raoul suggested, ducking down slightly to be lower to the ground.

The look and wordless rebuke through their mental bond made it clear that Ahsoka doubted that highly.

_What now?_ Raoul asked through their mental bond.

He felt his mother's mind working quickly. Much too quickly for him to keep up with.

_If we go in the house, she'd spot us. We could try to jump her. _Raoul mentally shook his head. Jumping a trained Force-sensitive with unknown powers was never a smart idea. But they were both Jedi, his mother a survivor of Order 66. They could take her, Raoul decided.

Coming out of his inner musings, he realized that his mother had come to the same conclusion.

Leaning close to him, she whispered, "Stay here," and moved soundlessly through the trees.

Raoul shook his head. _She doesn't stand a chance._

STAR WARS

Mara knew that the youngest Skywalker- Grace- was still hiding in the house. The stormtroopers had almost literally torn the house apart, but had found nothing. The scanners had insisted that there were no lifeforms there.

The Force said otherwise. The little girl was there. She was well trained in shielding her mind, but Mara knew she was there. She just didn't know where.

So she was waiting for either Grace to come out or someone to go in after her.

So she wasn't surprised when she felt a presence in the Force across the clearing from her. What did surprise her was the blow to the back of the head.

The ground rushed up to meet her as everything went black.

STAR WARS

When Ahsoka reappeared only a few minutes later, Raoul couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

His mother gave him a small smile. "No faith at all, Raoul," she shook her head at him. "Did you really think that she would get the better of me?"

Raoul lifted one shoulder in a half shrug and smiled cheekily at his mother. "Can't be too careful. You _are_ getting old,"

Ahsoka swatted her son upside the back of the head as she walked up to the destroyed front door, lightsaber in hand. "I'm not _that_ old,"

Raoul's smile widened into a grin, which vanished along with his sharp retort as they entered the house.

He stared around the wrecked entryway and living room. A glass table was over turned in the middle of the room, the tabletop shattered. A deck of sabacc cards and credit chits scattered across the room. The sofas had been flipped over, the cushions ripped off and slit open, the stuffing dumped all over the floor.

Raoul and Ahsoka made their ways cautiously through the house. Checking the rooms, which had each been ransacked, desks and chairs overturned, even a Holonet console ripped away from the wall and gutted, the circuits strewn across the floor. The beds in each of the rooms had been torn apart, the mattresses cut, much like the sofa cushions.

In one room, Raoul found several decapitated stuffed animals and broken toys, obviously Grace's room.

Wedged into one corner between the wall and a small dresser was a small stuffed bantha that had somehow escaped the carnage. Crouching down, Raoul started to work the toy out of the corner. With a final effort, the toy pulled free and Raoul had to scramble to keep his balance.

Raoul stood and made his way back to the living room where his mother waited. "There's nothing here," Raoul said, returning his lightsaber to his belt.

"Are you sure?" Ahsoka asked, standing by the wall.

Raoul frowned. What was she-oh. Reaching out in the Force, Raoul found Grace's Force-signature. "She's under us," without realizing it, Raoul moved across the room and knelt down, pulling up a hidden trapdoor and peering down into the basement.

"Grace? Grace, are you down here?" Ahsoka made her way down into the semi-lit basement.

"Oh, my! We're saved! Mistress Ahsoka, it's so good to see you in person again!" with a whirr of servomotors, See-Threepio appeared through another door behind the staircase, followed closely by a large, black dog; the fur on its shoulders standing on end, lips pulled back in a snarl as it placed itself between the Tanos and the doorway.

A small human child with blonde hair and brown eyes came in after them. "Lily it's okay, they're not going to hurt us,"

Ahsoka's first thought was: She looks just like him. Grace had Padmé's soft, chocolate brown eyes, but the rest of her was Anakin. Her facial features had an uncanny resemblance to her father, the blonde hair a more prominent feature.

Grace watched the two intruders as she stood next to Lily. Her stare seemed to make the younger alien nervous, the orange skin of his face became slightly brighter and his black and white montrails twitched slightly.

The two looked a lot alike with similar facial markings. The younger alien's markings only differed by a white stripe across the bridge of his nose. The adult female, whose Force-signature reminded Grace vaguely of her father's, powerful and calm at the same time, was watching her.

Finally Grace spoke. "Are you Ahsoka?"

Smiling, Ahsoka nodded. "Yes, I am," gesturing to Raoul, she said, "This is my son, Raoul. We're friends of your parents. We're going to take you someplace safe."

Grace moved suddenly, bolting forward into a startled Ahsoka's arms. She sobbed into her shoulder. Ahsoka knelt down to Grace's level while Raoul stood awkwardly by the stairs, listening to Threepio's chatter.

"Hey, Grace, listen to me. We have to get you out of here. We're going to leave Ansion." Ahsoka said, meeting Grace's eyes.

Sniffling, Grace stepped back. "Where are we going?"

Raoul stepped away from Threepio and held out the stuffed bantha that he had found. "We'll tell you as soon as we get back to the ship."

Grace took the toy and hugged it tight. "Okay,"

Four hours later,_ Star Franchise _lifted off from Ansion's capital city with four new passengers.

STAR WARS

**I need help! I need a name and personality traits/quirks for a female Lethan (red) Twi'lek. All I know about her is that she's nineteen years old, and a Rebel pilot who's marginally Force-sensitive. Give me your suggestions either via PM or your review please! She'll be making her first appearance in chapter nine- which I'm writing now. **

**Read and let me know what you think! Your opinion matters to me! Any questions and/or suggestions you can either PM me or just put it in your review and I'll do my best to answer.**

**Thanks,**

**Happy Trails**

**-CommChatter**


	7. Beginnings

**The usual disclaimers apply. I am not George Lucas, the only characters I currently own are Ardeth Vao, Grace Skywalker and Raoul Tano. **

STAR WARS

The drone of hyperspace engines had always comforted Anakin. Before the war, it had meant the successful conclusion to another mission for the Jedi. During the war, hyperspace was a respite, the gargantuan cruisers were protected from imminent attack, and everyone was safe. People would be calm.

Now, though, it threatened to drive him insane.

He paced around the small cell like a nexu in a cage too small for it, longing to release his pent up frustration on a punching bag. Or an unsuspecting stormtrooper.

Anakin and Padmé had been separated when they had been loaded onto the shuttle, but that really didn't comfort him.

The void in his mind scared him more than he was willing to admit. The Force wasn't there. It was gone. He couldn't _feel_ anything. Nothing. He couldn't even levitate the thin mattress that had been so thoughtfully provided.

He paused by the door- a red tinted ray shield- and studied his guards. Stormtroopers, both of them. The white armor was similar in design to the old Republic's clone trooper armor. The face design was different. And there was no color. Rex's armor had been painted blue. These guys had no personality. It had been drilled out of them.

They watched him dispassionately, faceplates and body language not betraying them in the least.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Anakin let himself drop stiffly onto the bunk and ran his left flesh-and-blood hand through his dark blond hair, cringing as he did so. It was a habit he had picked up from stress.

He hadn't slept in almost three days, ever since he and Padmé had been captured. He had been questioned, and introduced, albeit briefly, to an Imperial interrogation droid. It had hurt, but not as bad as losing his arm had. He hadn't screamed or told them anything- not that he had anything to tell.

He didn't know anything about the Alliance. He and Padmé had been flying blind when it came to the bases and who was in charge, besides the obvious players, and it was for this exact reason.

Anakin only hoped that Padmé and the kids didn't get the same treatment. Sighing again, Anakin contemplated his situation. He wanted to act now, but if he was honest with himself, he was exhausted and ready to drop. _I'm not thinking straight_.

Stretching out on the hard bunk, he let sleep claim him.

STAR WARS

Obi-Wan Kenobi stood on the bridge of the Mon Calamari star cruiser watching the tunnel of hyperspace flash by.

He hadn't seen his former padawan in almost ten years, since his youngest daughter, Grace, had been born. Obi-Wan had been introduced to the six year-old twins and four year-old Jinn as 'Uncle Ben'.

He would be lucky if they remembered him. Then again, Luke had immediately latched onto him, reminding Obi-Wan painfully of Anakin after Qui-Gon's death.

"General?" Obi-Wan turned to face Rex.

Rex looked much the same as he had during the Clone War, minus, of course, the stormtrooper-like armor which had been traded for an Alliance commander's uniform. His head was still shaved from his days in Torrent Company , and he had a small patch on his right shoulder to commemorate his fallen brothers- something he had refused to remove from his uniform when ordered to.

Sighing, Obi-Wan said, "Rex, I haven't been a general in almost seventeen years. Call me Obi-Wan," he paused, then asked, "What is it?"

The clone relaxed and moved to stand next to his old friend. "We'll be coming out of hyperspace in ten minutes. The gravity well generator is online and functional. If the Imps are on time, we should be arriving about ten minutes before the shuttle."

Obi-Wan permitted himself a small smile. It would be good to see Anakin and Padmé again.

STAR WARS

The ship shook suddenly and violently, launching Anakin off the bunk he had been sprawled across. He landed hard on his shoulder, sending spikes of pain lacing through his back.

"What the hell?"

Then he realized something. The hyperdrive engines were silent.

The deck shook beneath his feet, reminding Anakin of the old star cruisers when the hangar doors opened.

The steady wham-wham-wham of laser cannon batteries made him shoot to his feet. The Alliance was there!

STAR WARS

"Target the main power generator!" the young Rutian Twi'lek called to the gunners on the Mon Cal interdictor, _Intrepid_.

He was dressed similarly to the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, the light colored tunic and dark trousers, black boots that went up past mid-calf, and a lightsaber hooked to his utility belt, young Ardeth Vao was marked as a Jedi.

At eighteen the blue skinned Twi'lek was a survivor of Order 66- not that he remembered it. He'd been a thirteen month old in the youngling Crèche when Darth Maul and a legion of clones had stormed the Jedi Temple.

He was the only youngling to survive the massacre. How, they never knew. Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi had found him hidden in a cupboard when they had returned to the Temple in search of survivors. Ardeth had been the only one.

Master Kenobi had taken Ardeth and raised him like a son, eventually training him to be a Jedi. Now, today was his first chance to meet Anakin Skywalker, the man that had rescued him. Now Ardeth would get to return the favor.

The shuttle the Imperials were using was a Marauder, most commonly used by the Corporate Sector Authority and other planetary navies. This one was armed for acklay- ten turbolaser turrets that Ardeth could see. The hangar doors started to cycle open and released a flight of TIE fighters, trying to screen their mothership, allowing it to make a run for hyperspace. A squadron of X-wings streaked out to engage.

The Marauder was attempting to run, but another cruiser, this one an old Dreadnought, rained blast after blast on the smaller ship until its shields flared opaque and vanished entirely. They were completely open to attack.

"Fire ion cannons on my mark," the Mon Cal Kai Drake, captain of _Intrepid_, ordered. "Fire!"

The two ion cannon batteries opened up and nailed a direct bull's eye on the Imperial ship.

Ardeth, standing between Obi-Wan and Rex on the bridge, gave a satisfied smile. They were dead in space.

STAR WARS

Padmé didn't know what was happening. She was sure that they had at least another thirty hours in hyperspace before they rendezvoused with the _Executor._ So why was the hyperdrive silent?

The deck vibrated under her feet. Were the hangar's TIE fighters being launched?

The ship banked suddenly, faster than the inertial dampers could compensate for, throwing her to the ground with a surprised grunt.

And the power went out and the engines died. They were dead in space.

STAR WARS

**Read and let me know what you think! Your opinion matters to me! Any questions and/or suggestions you can either PM me or just put it in your review and I'll do my best to answer.**

**I also must repeat my request for help with the Twi'lek. Name and/or personality traits would be awesome!**

**Thanks,**

**Happy Trails**

**-CommChatter**


	8. Rescue

**Oh, my God, I'm so, so, sorry about taking forever to update! The last few weeks have been absolute insanity. Dad wants to paint the house (three freakin' stories!). Annoying little siblings. Horse camp, outside in the sun for five hours a day teaching kids to ride a horse. Work starting with a screwed up schedule. SCHOOL in two weeks. NO!**

**The upside to it all? I passed my driver's test!**

**Anyway, the usual disclaimers apply. I am not George Lucas, the only characters I currently own are Ardeth Vao, Grace Skywalker and Raoul Tano.**

**STAR WARS**

The ship shuddered from several hits, and, abruptly, a durasteel blast door slammed down on the other side of the ray shield.

That, Anakin knew, was emergency protocol. Then the lights went out and the ray shield died.

Anakin smiled. They were dead in space.

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Ardeth and Obi-Wan, along with Rex's assault team gathered at the edge of the hangar, waiting for the Marauder- _Blade Runner_, the ID proclaimed- to be pulled in via tractor beam.

Deciding now was the time for last minute advice; Obi-Wan beckoned the young Twi'lek over to him. "Keep your guard up. Listen to the Force," He advised.

Ardeth's irritation at that often repeated admonition flashed through the Force, but was quickly controlled, though it didn't stop him from giving his master a faintly annoyed look. "I know, Obi-Wan," Ardeth turned back to the boarding party but stopped when his master put a hand on his shoulder.

_So sure of himself. Just as I once was, as Anakin once was,_ Obi-Wan thought to himself, briefly remembering his time at Ardeth's age, too old to be a child, too young to be an adult. It was an incredibly awkward time for any being of any species, although humans were notorious for pulling some incredibly stupid stunts in an attempt to prove that they were ready. One more try, then. "The Dark side is quick to join us in battle. Be wary,"

Ardeth hesitated, "Yes, Master,"

STAR WARS

Major Pierce, who had been given the honor of delivering Anakin and Padmé Skywalker to Darth Maul, knew immediately that he was in trouble. The Rebels were undoubtedly after the Skywalkers, and, with the _Blade Runner_'s engines offline thanks to the ion cannon, the only thing they could do was give what fight they could, even if it was hopeless.

The small company of stormtroopers formed up and set up a line of fire to the air lock. The entire ship shook as the Rebel cruiser's tractor beam caught the lifeless _Blade Runner_ and hauled it into the cavernous hangar bay, like a giant maw devouring a small morsel. The ship shook again as the tractors set it down in the empty bay.

There was about a full minute as the hangar repressurized, and then he heard clanking on the main airlock. The ramp began to glow orange. Two bars of blue light began to cut- no; melt- their way through the thick durasteel.

_Lightsabers, _Pierce realized, _there's Jedi here._

The lightsabers hissed and crackled their way through the durasteel, carving a slightly irregular circle. Then the disc lifted free, the edges glowing white-hot. It hovered in mid-air for a moment, moving back slightly from the airlock it had once been a part of.

Abruptly, it accelerated down the hall, sandwiching two stormtroopers between it and the wall with a loud _crunch_ of buckling armor. Revealing an older human man with red hair and beard shot through with silver and a young, teenage twi'lek with lightsabers ignited, standing in front of a small Rebel commando team, which opened fire in retaliation of the stormtroopers' opening salvo. The stormtroopers' shots proved mostly ineffective as the Jedi deflected the bolts back at them.

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The firefight didn't last long, Ardeth with great satisfaction. Stretching out in the Force with Obi-Wan, he sensed the presence of a human woman and… a Force void. Master Skywalker was, most likely _in_ said void. Ardeth shuddered, the thought of being cut off from the Force was an alien concept for him. He had never been solely in his own head. Obi-Wan had always taught him to use the Force. Surely though, he should be able to sense Master Skywalker then? The void couldn't work both ways, could it? Why couldn't he sense the older Jedi?

The commandos spread out with caution, in search of the rest of the _Blade Runner_'s crew. Moments later a human man and a male Devaronian reappeared, escorting an Imperial major and two stormtroopers. All had their hands on their heads, fingers laced. The stormtroopers still wore their helmets.

Obi-Wan stepped forward, Rex and Ardeth flanking him. He studied the major for a moment before speaking. "You are transporting prisoners taken on Ansion. Take us to them. Now,"

The major resisted the Force suggestion, but one of the stormtroopers stepped forward. "General Kenobi, sir?" he asked tentatively.

Obi-Wan and Rex exchanged surprised looks before he answered. "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, yes. Who are you, trooper?"

The stormtrooper removed his hands from his helmet, making the commandos bring their blasters up threateningly. The stormtrooper froze.

"Stand down," Rex ordered, never taking his eyes from the man, hand drifting to the hand blaster holstered on his hip.

With the exaggerated caution of a man who doesn't want his head blown off, the stormtrooper removed his helmet. His face was a mirror image of Rex's, though with a full head of black hair with a touch of gray at the temples, cut to military regulation length. They both had the same tan skin and brown eyes. They were both clones of the late bounty hunter Jango Fett.

Snapping to attention, he saluted first Obi-Wan, then Rex, saying as he did so, "CT-5597, reporting for duty sir!"

The Jedi, Rex, commandos and the other Imperials stared at him in disbelief and amazement. Then recognition flashed in Rex's eyes. "Jesse?" he queried, then turned to the two commandos. Gesturing to the major and second stormtrooper, he said, "Take them with the other Imps to the holding area,"

The Devaronian opened his mouth to protest, but Rex cut him off. "I used to be his commanding officer. We'll be fine. Just take care of those two," he reiterated.

Looking decidedly annoyed, the Devaronian and human said a quick, "Yes, sir!" and marched the two Imperials away.

"Now," Rex said, turning back to Jesse, "Where's General Skywalker, his wife and children?" he crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke, drawing himself up to his full height; making it possible to look down, however slightly, on his doppelgänger.

Jesse frowned. "I don't know about any children, but the man and woman that were brought on board are in the brig," he turned down the hallway, saying, "This way!" over his shoulder.

The brig, Ardeth thought, left a lot to be desired. Whoever had designed the place hadn't been thinking about containing Jedi.

Or so Ardeth thought, until he came within three feet of the door to the cell on the right. The Force simply didn't exist. It felt to Ardeth like he had suddenly gone deaf and blind. The effect was maddening.

Rex caught him by the shoulder as Ardeth staggered, his senses reeling at his sudden disconnection from the Force. He heard Rex speaking, but it took Ardeth a moment to make sense of what he was saying.

"You okay, kid?" Rex asked, concerned. It was then that he noticed Jesse supporting Obi-Wan, who had paled slightly and staggered into him.

Jesse looked completely nonplussed, "What's wrong with them?" he asked worriedly, though, judging from the confused look on Rex's face he didn't know either.

Ardeth moved back several steps and the Force reappeared like it always had been. He took several deep breaths to steady himself, the asked, "You don't feel that?" he asked Rex and Jesse, who were watching the two Jedi with concern.

The two clones exchanged confused looks. "Feel what?" Rex asked.

Obi-Wan put a hand on Ardeth's shoulder. "What you are feeling, Ardeth, is a void in the Force. They are uncommon, but they do exist. I've never encountered a man-made one before, though," he said, stroking his beard with his thumb and forefinger of his right hand.

"I don't think it's man-made," Jesse announced, pointing at a tree- yes, a whole, live, tree- planted in a large pot in the corner by one of the cells. There were several furry, lizard-like creatures scattered among the branches. It looked like their claws were imbedded in the wood of the tree.

"What are those things?" Ardeth asked, staring at them in revulsion.

Obi-Wan smiled at his padawan. "Perhaps we could free Anakin and Padmé first? Then you can study the creatures?"

That snapped the clones and Ardeth out of it.

"Right, sir," Jesse strode over to the main console and pointed to the door closest to the tree. "General Skywalker's in there." He pointed at a cell at the opposite end. "His wife's in there."

Obi-Wan and Rex exchanged looks. "If it's alright with you, sir, I'd release the Senator first. General Skywalker can be… volatile." Rex said, stepping over to Padmé's cell.

"I agree with you, Rex. Padmé should be released first," Obi-Wan nodded, stepping closer.

Ardeth hung back, trying to stay as far away as possible from the tree and its occupants.

Rex paused at the door. "Maybe you should open it sir. She knows you better,"

The petite, brown haired, brown eyed woman in the cell looked surprised to see him. "Obi-Wan!" she cried, and hugged him tightly.

"Hi, Padmé," Obi-Wan said, gently disengaging himself from her.

Her first question, was, predictably, "Where's Anakin?"

Before Obi-Wan could answer, the ship lurched suddenly and violently as the cruiser jumped into hyperspace. Putting a steadying hand on her shoulder, smiling wryly, Obi-Wan said, "Actually, Padmé, we found him, but we thought it would be better if you let him out,"

Padmé smiled slightly, but didn't say anything. Her amused sense in the Force gave Obi-Wan the impression that she was thinking _chicken!_. She looked behind Obi-Wan at Ardeth, Rex and Jesse as she moved to the door that Anakin was behind. "Hi, Rex," Padmé said, depressing several buttons on the panel next to the blast door.

Rex looked slightly uncomfortable. "Hello, Senator," he answered respectfully.

The blast door retreated into its housing, revealing a red tinted ray shield with an agitated Anakin pacing the length of the small cell. He spun to face the door and paused when he saw Padmé, breaking into a smile. She deactivated the ray shield and Anakin barely had time to process the situation before he caught Padmé's tackle of a hug.

Grimacing as her arms tightened about bruised ribs, Anakin asked her the first thing that came to mind. "Are you okay?" then he looked behind her at Obi-Wan, Ardeth, Rex and Jesse. "Obi-Wan! Rex! It's about time you got here!" Anakin said, stepping out of the cell and into the better lit and wider corridor.

"Good to see you too, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, smiling at his old friend. "Typical Skywalker. You still need me to keep you out of trouble,"

"Where's the kids?" Anakin asked, ignoring Obi-Wan's good natured jibe, and looking around, hoping desperately that the four of them would somehow materialize out of the bulkhead in front of them.

The sudden change in Obi-Wan's demeanor, though, told him otherwise. "Anakin, I'm sorry. They're not here. The Empire captured the twins and Jinn. They are being transported to Coruscant by a different route."

Anakin sighed, and, quite suddenly, he looked exhausted. It was only then that they noticed the fading bruises and injection marks on the inside of his left, flesh arm. Obi-Wan felt a rush of unexpected anger at the man who had done that, but quickly tamped it down.

Rex and Jesse exchanged glances. "If you don't mind my saying so, General," Rex said, looking at Anakin, "You look like hell,"

Anakin chuckled weakly, now leaning on Obi-Wan, who was, with the help of Padmé, steering Anakin out of the brig. "I feel like hell, Rex," he even sounded tired.

Obi-Wan looked at Ardeth pointedly over his shoulder, who nodded and pulled out his comlink. "I need a medic down on level three in the brig. We found them,"

A tinny, "Yes, Commander," came in response.

At that, Anakin, who was now sitting with his back against the wall, stirred and tried to stand. "I don't need a medic!" he said. Rex and Jesse kept him seated.

Padmé sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "Yes, you do." Then she turned back to Obi-Wan. "You said the Empire had Luke, Leia, and Jinn. What about Grace?"

Obi-Wan looked uncomfortable. "We don't know,"

Anakin opened his bloodshot blue eyes and sat up from his slouch against the wall "Don't know!"

Before Obi-Wan could answer, a Rodian commando in Alliance fatigues came around the corner. "General Kenobi, we just received a communication from Ahsoka Tano," he handed the datapad to Obi-Wan, who read the two word sentence.

"General?" Rex asked, keeping his voice neutral, though he hoped with everyone else it was good news.

Obi-Wan smiled. " 'Package retrieved'," he looked at Anakin and Padmé. "Ahsoka has Grace. She's safe,"

Padmé sighed in relief as Anakin smiled. "One of them is safe. Now we have to find the others,"

Then the medics arrived in the form of a medical droid, a female Duro and a human male, pushing a hover chair. They were escorted by the Devaronian commando.

"Sir," the Devaronian said, stopping in front of Rex, casting Jesse, still in his stormtrooper armor, a distrustful glare. "We found this in the armory." He held out Anakin's lightsaber.

"Thank you, trooper," Rex said, taking the proffered 'saber and handing it off to Padmé.

The medics were helping Anakin into the hover chair, despite his weak protests. "I can walk! I don't need to be carried anywhere!"

"Sir," the Duro interrupted calmly, her voice ringing with authority, "either you sit willingly on the hover chair, or we will sedate you and take you out on a gurney." She said. "It's your choice, but it's our job to keep you from injuring yourself further,"

Deciding that the chair might not be so bad after all, Anakin sighed and allowed them to help him into the chair.

Ardeth watched the medics steer him away, Padmé only a step behind. His tenacity was obvious. Things were going to get interesting when Anakin Skywalker was brought fully up to speed on what had happened to his children.

STAR WARS

**Not sure how I feel about this chapter. **

**Let me know what you think! Reviews are always appreciated!**

**Happy Trails**

**-CommChatter**


	9. Confinement

**So, who watched the Presidential Debate? Romney kicked ass! I have to admit though, I had more fun reading the comments people made on Twitter than I did watching the debate. I am so looking forward to the vice-presidential debate. Biden is such an idiot. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm a Republican and proud of it.**

**Anyways, I am not George Lucas, the only characters I own are Ardeth Vao, Raoul Tano, and Grace Skywalker.**

**Enjoy.**

STAR WARS

The bed she was laying on was too uncomfortable to be her bed back at the palace, Mara though hazily. She rolled over and almost rolled off the small bunk. It was smaller than her bed too, she thought. Even her bed on her small yacht was bigger than this. Her ship- this wasn't her ship!

In her moment of blind panic, she sat bolt upright and hit her head on the bulkhead above her bunk. Hard. "Ow," she groaned, pushing herself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

Massaging the top of her head to try to relieve the pain, she scanned the small room. The bunk she was sitting on was set in the wall to give the occupant maximum space. The small viewport set in one wall displayed the hypnotizing effect of the tunnel of hyperspace, not that she paid it much attention. The rest of the small room contained a bedside table, most likely bolted to the floor; drawers to a dresser were set into the wall across from the bed. The carpet was a deep, velvety black, almost as black as space.

The door cycled open and a golden protocol droid entered, carrying a tray of fruit. Setting the tray down, the droid straightened up and looked at her. "Greetings." He said, in what Mara thought was quite a prissy voice for a droid, "I am See-Threepio, human cyborg relations. How may I help you Mistress-?" the droid broke off expectantly, evidently waiting for her name.

Mara mentally shrugged. So what if she gave the droid her name? The Force was silently nudging her- it was safe to give these people her name. "Mara. My name's Mara Jade,"

"Oh, well, Mistress Mara, Mistress Ahsoka invites you to join herself and Master Raoul and Mistress Grace in the main lounge when you are ready," Threepio informed her, before turning with a whirr of servomotors and exiting the room.

Mara sighed and lay back down on the bed. She wasn't going anywhere. She had a headache.

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Grace sat on the acceleration couch across from Ahsoka with Lily lying on the couch, her large head on Grace's lap. She'd been through a lot, Ahsoka knew. She could sense the young girl's inner turmoil, even though she was trying very hard not to show it. She was still scared, although her tears had stopped almost as soon as they had started; Grace was far from recovered from her ordeal.

The dog, Lily, was easily the largest Ahsoka had ever seen. When Lily stood on her hind legs, she would be able to put her large paws on Ahsoka's shoulders and look her squarely in the eyes. On all fours, the dog came up to Ahsoka's hips. The creature was also incredibly intelligent, though not considered sentient. Lily seemed to know exactly when Grace was upset, and Ahsoka had never seen Lily far from the youngest Skywalker.

Grace stirred and opened her brown eyes. "You never told me where we're going,"

Ahsoka looked up from the datapad she was studying and was struck again by Grace's similarity to her former Master. The resemblance between Anakin and Grace was incredible. Ahsoka was sure that Anakin had looked a lot like Grace when he was her age- except for the obvious differences, her brown eyes and long hair, and no padawan braid.

"We're going to meet with the Mon Cal cruiser _Intrepid_. Your parents are with them." Ahsoka answered.

Grace sat upright, all drowsiness forgotten. "Mom and Dad are with them? What about Luke and Leia and Jinn?"

Ahsoka sighed and stood, sitting down next to Grace and put her arm around her shoulders. "Grace, we don't know where they are. The last we knew, your brothers and sister were being sent to the _Executor_, Darth Maul's personal star destroyer. After that, they're going to be sent to Coruscant." _And life as a Sith. _Ahsoka thought. She realized half a second too late that her mental shields had slipped.

Grace stared up at her, brown eyes wide. "You don't really believe that, do you? That Luke and Leia and Jinn will turn to the Dark Side? Dad will rescue them. I know he will."

Ahsoka smiled sadly, remembering when she had once believed that about Anakin, the only father she had ever known. She had believed him invincible. It wasn't until he had almost been killed that she had realized that he was a mortal with all the same failings as mortals.

Pulling Grace closer, Ahsoka said, "I hope you're right, little one. I hope he can."

STAR WARS

No one had come to see them in the time they were in the cell. Food had come in the form of hideously bland ration bars via a small chute by the door. The small 'fresher was self-cleaning, so no cleaning droids came either.

It was the middle of the ship's night cycle, and Jinn was sprawled across the top bunk of the bunk bed that he and Luke had claimed. Leia had chosen the bottom of the other bunk bed.

The twins had fallen silent almost an hour before, leaving Jinn to his thoughts. Most of which centered on their current predicament. They had sensed Grace's rescue and their parents' escape, so now; they just had to worry about themselves.

Jinn's most constant worry was their imminent arrival aboard the _Executor_, Darth Maul's flagship. Once they reached there, _screwed_ didn't even begin to cover it, Jinn thought.

They had tried several different means of escape. Their ace it the hole was their abilities in the Force, which, much to their frustration, had yielded no results; simply blowing the door off its tracks, as Jinn had tried, proved completely ineffective.

More conventional methods, such as hotwiring the door open, had resulted in Luke getting shocked with enough electricity to knock him out for several hours. The small ventilation shaft above them had been too small for the boys to enter and when Leia had tried to go up, she had been given treatment similar to Luke's. They had plotted and schemed, but were forced to abandon their escape attempts.

Jinn sighed. He had wanted to get involved, but this wasn't exactly what he had had in mind.

The three of them were slowly going insane from the lack of action or change of routine; there was nothing for them to do except speculate on what would happen to them when they reached their destination. Which was something that none of them wished to think about. For all their talk of being Jedi, they were still kids in a no-win scenario.

Jinn wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but at this point, he would have welcomed school work. Anything to break the monotony. Sleep claimed him on that happy note.

Several hours later Jinn was jostled awake as the ship dropped out of hyperspace. They had reached the rendezvous point.

"We're screwed," Jinn mumbled, sliding down from the top bunk as his brother and sister stirred and prepared themselves for what was to come.

STAR WARS

The door cycled open, revealing eight stormtroopers. Three entered, covered by the five outside the door.

"Against the wall," the lead trooper ordered, gesturing with his blaster.

"Like we have much choice," Luke commented dryly, turning to face the wall, submitting, for now, to the rough treatment the stormtroopers were giving him. They seemed almost disappointed that he had complied.

As the Skywalkers were roughly shoved out the door, Luke gave voice to his misgivings. "I have a bad feeling about this," he announced to no one in particular as the stormtroopers formed up around the three of them and pushed them, none too gently, down the corridor to the open ramp.

An entire company of stormtroopers waited for them at the bottom of the ramp.

Taking in the scene before them, "We must be important," Leia commented. Jinn snickered and Luke gave a small smile, projecting a full-blown grin into her mind through their twin bond. His blue eyes gleamed.

Their various reactions earned them sharp shoves in the back. Leia stumbled and one of the stormtroopers caught her roughly by the arm and jerked sharply, righting her.

Wincing, Leia almost didn't notice the main hangar doors opening. She did however, hear the steady, mechanical breathing that had become Darth Maul's trademark. Pure evil radiated off him through the Force. If Leia had been Force-blind like the stormtroopers, she would have sworn the temperature in the hangar had dropped several degrees. Luke and Jinn's amusement vanished as Maul, clad in black armor, came into view. His black helmet reminded Leia of a skull.

The stormtroopers pulled Leia and the boys to a halt in front of him. The entire hangar was silent despite the number of people there. Leia was almost sure that everyone there was holding their collective breath. Maul stood in front of them, his mechanical breathing the only thing breaking the silence.

Then Leia felt him. His mind, dark and twisted by years of using the Dark Side of the Force, pushed into hers and coiled, snakelike, around her mind and tightened. She felt oddly disconnected from her body as she felt Maul move through her mind. Nothing she had been taught could have prepared her for this. She couldn't form one coherent thought, let alone try to repel him by throwing up shields.

Then he was gone, and Leia snapped back into her body. Her knees buckled and the only thing keeping her on her feet was the two stormtroopers' grips on her arms. Next to her, Jinn staggered into one of his guards. From his sudden disorientation in the Force, Leia guessed that he had gotten similar treatment. Jinn attempted to bring his hands up to his temples; they were forced back to his sides.

In front of them, Luke shuddered and Leia felt his Force-presence surge against Maul's Dark. Darth Maul and Luke recoiled away from each other as Luke's knees gave out. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he was breathing hard, his chest heaving.

Darth Maul made a sound that might have been a chuckle, but it was mangled and oddly flat when it issued from his voice synthesizer. He stepped forward and gripped Luke's chin tightly enough that he couldn't easily pull away. Maul tipped Luke's head back slightly to study his face. Leia felt a sudden surge of protectiveness. Luke was her brother. Her _twin_. Maul had no right to touch Luke or Jinn. They were her _brothers_. Yes, she might not be the oldest, but she felt responsible for them.

When Maul spoke, his voice sent chills down Leia's spine. "You are powerful. More powerful than your brother and sisters. Much more powerful than your father, the famous Anakin Skywalker.

"And yet you refuse to reach your full potential," Maul sounded almost regretful. "The Jedi teachings you so zealously cling to only hold you back. I feel your anger at me. Your fear. _Use it_," the last was a command, one that rang with threat and authority.

Leia couldn't see Luke's face, but she felt his Force-presence surge again, a blinding pillar of Light in the Dark. "No," Luke jerked his head back, out of Maul's hand. "I won't,"

Maul made the odd chuckling sound again. "Not yet you won't . you will change your attitude when you meet my Master." Darth Maul gestured to the stormtroopers. "Take them to the detention level. Separate them. No one is to touch them until we reach Imperial Center." Maul spun on his heel with a swirl of his cape and stalked out of the hangar.

As the stormtroopers pushed them forward, Jinn made the statement that Leia had felt buzzing around in his mind. "I was right. We're screwed," he announced.

Luke glanced back at his brother over his shoulder. "Jinn, you are a master of understatement,"

Leia didn't have a response.

STAR WARS

**Wow. Finally got that one done. Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions? Reviews make me happy!**

**Happy Trails**

**-CommChatter**


	10. Introductions

**I have a plan now! My goal for this story is two updates a month. School craziness is really, **_**really**_** starting to drive me crazy.**

**I am not George Lucas, the only characters I own are Ardeth Vao, Raoul Tano, Miranaken'yon, and Grace Skywalker.**

**Enjoy.**

**STAR WARS**

Jesse had been debriefed, and, when asked why he had suddenly jumped ship, he had said, "We're treated like droids. It's not what I signed on for. My brothers are already gone."

Rex and Obi-Wan were now heading to the medbay where Anakin was. It was ironic, Obi-Wan thought, that the first place Anakin ended up was the medbay, his least favorite place.

Kai Drake, the Mon Calamari captain of the _Intrepid_, joined them from another hallway. "General Kenobi, Commander Rex," he greeted, blinking his large, bulbous eyes at them. "How is General Skywalker?"

Exchanging glances, Rex chuckled and Obi-Wan gave an amused smile. "Anakin just spent the last several hours in a bacta tank. I doubt he'll be in a good mood."

At Kai's Mon Cal version of a frown, Rex elaborated. "Skywalker hates the medbay with a passion that's almost holy. The only thing he'll be doing until the medics release him is complaining."

Kai's eyes rolled to better focus on the two humans. "When General Skywalker is available, I would like to speak with him,"

Obi-Wan bowed. "Of course, Commander,"

As Kai made his way back to the bridge, Rex turned to face Obi-Wan. "Do you think that there are more of my brothers still serving the Empire? Is there any way we can contact them?"

Obi-Wan led the way to the medbay as he answered. "I don't know, Rex. We'll see."

The door to the medbay powered open silently to reveal a tired looking Padmé sitting in the waiting area. She looked up as they entered and gave them a tired smile. "Hi Obi-Wan. Hello Rex," she sounded almost as tired as she looked, with dark circles under her eyes, her brown eyes stood out quite clearly.

"Hi Padmé," Obi-Wan and Rex sat on either side of her. "Where's Anakin?"

That coaxed another tired smile out of her. "They just took him out of the bacta tank. He's getting cleaned up."

They sat in silence for a minute before Padmé leaned into Obi-Wan, who put a brotherly arm around her shoulder. "What happens now, Obi-Wan?" her voice trembled slightly.

"Well," Obi-Wan said, well aware that she wasn't referring to the immediate future, but answering in that sense anyway, "First we're going to wait for Anakin to join us. Then we're going to the main hangar."

"Ahsoka's here?" Padmé's excitement was palpable.

"Not yet." Rex answered, "But from her jump coordinates, they should be here within the hour."

STAR WARS

Mara was half awake when her Master prodded her awake through the Force. _Have you completed your mission, child?_

Mara shot to her feet and knelt on the floor before she answered him. _Yes, Master. Anakin Skywalker has been captured, along with Amidala and three of his children._

Sidious was silent for a moment. _Skywalker and Amidala escaped custody four hours ago with the help of two Jedi. The entire force was captured._ Palpatine's presence in the Force shifted, becoming more oppressive, almost smothering. Mara could feel his anger, and she thanked the stars that it wasn't _her _he was angry at.

_What do you wish me to do, Master?_ Mara asked._ I am currently with the youngest Skywalker and her rescuers. Two togruta Jedi. Their names are Ahsoka and Raoul. I have not heard their surnames._

_Tano._ Palpatine's 'voice' was practically a hiss, which was quite the accomplishment, considering that he wasn't actually speaking. _Skywalker's Jedi apprentice. I had thought she was dead._ Palpatine paused, considering the newest development. _Remain with them for now. They will be taking the child to her parents. Report to me when you have their location._

Although Sidious couldn't see her, Mara bowed her head in submission. _Yes, Master._

The Emperor favored her with a mental caress, the equivalent of a hand on her shoulder. _You are doing well, my Hand._

Then he severed the connection, leaving her lightheaded and dizzy, and feeling alone. Behind her, the door cracked open and the younger of the two togrutas- Raoul- poked his head in the door.

"Mara, right?" He asked uncertainly. At her frown, he spoke quickly. "Threepio told me. We'll be reverting to realspace in about a minute." His eyes darted around the room, and Mara knew that he had felt the Emperor's presence. He frowned, then turned and left, returning to the cockpit as the reversion alarm sounded, echoing down the halls.

STAR WARS

Ardeth and Obi-Wan stood behind Anakin and Padmé as they watched the old Corellian freighter maneuver itself into the hangar. It was nondescript with no identifying marks that Ardeth could see, making him suspect that the battleship gray starship had once been a smuggler's ship. It settled on its four landing struts and steam shot out several times from various gears as the ramp came down.

There was a shrill cry of "Mom! Dad!" and, as Ardeth watched, a little blonde human girl sprinted down the ramp.

Padmé beat Anakin to the girl- Grace- by half a step, and swept her into her arms. Anakin came on the other side and hugged the two of them. Grace was grinning widely as she hugged her parents. Padmé was the only one facing them, but Ardeth could clearly see the tears that ran down her face.

Obi-Wan glanced at Ardeth and smiled slightly. "Now we just need to recover the others,"

Ardeth raised an eyebrow (a human habit that he had picked up) at his companion. "That's easier said than done, Master," his lekku twitched. "They're probably already with Darth Maul and heading to Coruscant."

Before Obi-Wan could respond, there was a shout of "Skyguy!" that made him smile. They turned back to the ship and Ardeth saw a female togruta stride down the ramp and give Anakin a hug. She was followed down the ramp by a giant black dog, a young male togruta and a female human with red hair. They were both teenagers and hung back a little, looking extremely out of place.

A gold plated protocol droid stopped at the top of the ramp and threw its arms up in the air. "Oh my! Thank the Maker! Master Anakin, Mistress Padmé, it's so good to see you again!" the droid strode down the ramp as fast as his servomotors could carry him to the few Skywalkers that were there. The various techs and personnel in the hangar stopped what they were doing to watch the reunion.

Introductions were made- the togruta's name was Raoul, the human Mara. The Tanos had picked her up on Ansion. After, Obi-Wan sent Ardeth to take Mara and Raoul to the mess hall, much to Ardeth's irritation.

Sighing, Ardeth turned to Raoul and Mara. "This way to the mess hall," Lekku twitching, he led the way.

Mara studied the halls as the twi'lek Jedi guided them to the mess hall. The Mon Cal cruiser was very different from the star destroyer that she had arrived on Ansion in. This cruiser seemed… brighter. Less oppressive. Mara liked it better this way.

They walked quietly for several minutes before Raoul broke the silence. "So, where are you from?" it was a blatantly obvious attempt to make conversation.

Ardeth turned town another hallway before answering. "Originally? I was born on Ryloth. I spent a few months on Coruscant before Master Kenobi raised me on Tatooine." He scoffed. "The biggest dustball in the galaxy," The door that appeared in front of them cycled open with a hiss of hydrolics. The chatter of many beings speaking at once and the scrape of cutlery against plates greeted them.

The twi'lek- Ardeth- offered Mara and Raoul a smile that Mara immediately categorized as _mischievous_, and said, "I won't guarantee that the food's edible. I think some of it's surplus from the Clone War." He laughed at their horrified looks.

Picking up a tray and accepting a carton of juice from a serving droid, he continued. "Beats those ration bars though." He snatched a wrapped sandwich from another counter and picked up a ripe muja fruit. Tossing it to Raoul, and another to Mara, he explained "Must've gotten a new shipment. We don't usually get fresh fruit here. It's usually that dried crap." Picking another up for himself, he led the way to an empty table in the corner.

Ignoring the sandwich, Ardeth took a bite out of the fruit and watched his two companions for a moment before asking "So, where are _you_ from?" his expressive blue eyes shifting between the two of them.

"Shili," Raoul said at the same time Mara said "Imperial Center,"

"Imperial Center," Ardeth's eyes widened slightly. "How'd you get out?"

Mara and Raoul exchanged uncertain looks. "Pardon?" Mara asked. Raoul had dug into what had once probably been a nerf steak and chewed slowly, watching the other two.

Ardeth took another bite of his fruit before he answered. "You're Force-sensitive." At Mara's disbelieving look, Ardeth grinned. "You're shielding your thoughts. It's a dead giveaway."

"Oh," Mara said, slightly unsettled. Raoul snickered.

Raoul, who had been silent up until that point, joined the questioning. "How does a trained Force-sensitive, especially one as powerful as you, escape the Emperor's attention on Coruscant?" Raoul paused, then demanded, "And who trained you? The only Jedi that we know of are Mom, Master Skywalker and Master Kenobi. Nobody else that we know of escaped the Purges."

Both alien Jedi were watching her curiously, Ardeth's half eaten muja fruit now lay forgotten on his tray. Raoul's fork was suspended halfway between his mouth and the table. The piece of meat dropped off. No one noticed.

"Um," Mara said, suddenly inarticulate. What did she say? None of her training had ever covered this! She couldn't even fib! The two young Jedi would sense any deception or untruth that she told them. Mara settled on a half-truth. "The man who raised me. He taught me to shield and a little levitation. That's about it," Mara didn't miss the frowns that the two Jedi exchanged, but didn't comment.

"Was he a Jedi?" Raoul asked eagerly.

"No," Mara shook her head. That was true.

"How did he escape the Purges?" Ardeth leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.

Mara shrugged. "I don't know," it was true, in a sense. She didn't know how her master had escaped the four Jedi that had tried to arrest him. She took a pointed bite of her muja fruit, hoping that the twi'lek and togruta would take the hint. Ardeth did.

Raoul didn't. "How did you end up on Ansion? By the Skywalker house?"

Mara really, _really_ didn't want to talk about this. Sighing, she put the fruit down. "Can we talk about this later? I'd like to eat now."

"Sure," Raoul said, frowning. He turned back to Ardeth, only to find him gazing across the cafeteria at a group of female pilots. Or what he thought were female. Some species were really hard to tell the difference.

Following Ardeth's gaze, Raoul zeroed in on a female Lethan twi'lek, who was talking animatedly with a red skinned, blue haired Zeltron and a brunette human woman. "So, what's her name?" Raoul asked, jolting Ardeth back to reality.

"What?" Ardeth asked, his aqua skin darkening slightly.

Mara looked at the gaggle of pilots behind them. "She is pretty,"

Ardeth's skin darkened even more, almost to a royal blue. Lekku twitching, he mumbled under his breath.

"Sorry, that was that?" Raoul asked, leaning forward.

Ardeth's skin turned an even darker shade of blue. Raoul and Mara were both grinning, watching him. Sighing, Ardeth gave them both a glare before relenting. "Lieutenant Miranaken'yon. She's from Nal Hutta,"

Mara studied him critically. "Have you ever talked to her?"

The irritated look Ardeth gave her told her that, no, he hadn't. "Once." The twi'lek admitted. "And I'm a lieutenant-commander. I out rank her anyway."

Raoul snorted inelegantly. "That's just an excuse." At Ardeth's raised eyebrow, he paused. "What? We're rebels aren't we? If we followed the rules, we wouldn't be here. And besides, you might be dead tomorrow,"

Mara found herself trying to keep herself from laughing at the togruta's comment.

Ardeth sighed and face-palmed. "_That's _a happy thought." Thinking a change of subject was in order, he moved back to the get-to-know-you area of the conversation, one that, in his opinion was a safer topic. "What about you? Where are you from?"

Raoul wasn't fooled, but wisely dropped the subject. Shaking his head, montrails twitching, he answered. "Nice evasive. My dad was killed after I was born. Mom raised me by herself." He grinned at a memory. "I don't know how she managed by herself. I was a monster."

Ardeth nodded knowingly. "Jedi patience," he said, half-joking. Mara took a sip of her juice, the corners of her mouth twitching treacherously, green eyes bright.

Raoul chuckled. "I guess. Mom started teaching me to use the Force when I was ten." He paused, then gestured around them. "This is the first time I've been off Shili."

Ardeth regarded Raoul pensively, causing him to frown. "What?" Raoul asked.

Ardeth's lekku twitched, then he said. "That is scarily close to my own story actually,"

Mara raised a red-gold eyebrow. "How's that?"

"I spent six months in the Jedi Temple before the Purges," at his companions' disbelieving looks, Ardeth shrugged. "I don't remember any of it,"

Mara leaned forward. "How did you escape the stromtroopers? Darth Maul led _two legions_ of troops. Not a Jedi survived."

Ardeth shook his head. "I don't know. Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker found me hidden in a cupboard in the Crèche. Someone hid me, but we never found out who." The twi'lek paused. "Whoever he was, I'd like to shake his hand. He saved my life. Anyway, Master Kenobi took me with him to Tatooine and raised me there."

Mara picked up her abandoned muja fruit. "What about your parents?"

Ardeth leaned back in his chair. "That's a very good question. I never knew them, and I'm pretty sure that they're safer that way. Guilt by association and all." He poked at his sandwich. "They probably think I'm dead anyway, like the rest of the Jedi."

"So," Raoul mused. "All of us were raised by one person, and two of us are orphans."

Ardeth shook his head. "Amazing, those coincidences,"

Their talk got lighter as Ardeth and Raoul told stories about growing up with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

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When Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka entered the cafeteria a few minutes later, they spotted Raoul, Ardeth and Mara sitting at a table in a corner, trays of half eaten food abandoned in front of them. Ardeth's hands wove around, illustrating what appeared to be evasive maneuvers as Raoul and Mara laughed.

Ahsoka smiled at the oblivious group. "I haven't seen Raoul this happy in a long time."

Anakin glanced at his former padawan. She wasn't much of a padawan anymore. "The twins and Jinn would have liked them."

Obi-Wan put a hand on Anakin's shoulder, a silent show of support. "We'll find them,"

Anakin picked up a tray before answering him. "I know," then he frowned at Mara, realizing he recognized her from somewhere. "I know her," he muttered, watching Mara. She was laughing at something Raoul had said, green eyes sparkling.

The other two Jedi watched Anakin curiously. "You know her?" Ahsoka prompted.

"Yes," Anakin answered, still watching Mara. He snapped the fingers of his right hand when he remembered. "She was in my garage with Luke and Jinn the night before the Empire found us…" Anakin trailed off, not liking where his logic was taking him. "You don't think that she's a spy, do you?"

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan exchanged quick looks. "She's kind of young, isn't she?" Ahsoka asked, eyeing the laughing group again.

"With Sidious, one never knows." Obi-Wan said quietly. Ardeth and Raoul noticed them watching their group and waved them over.

"Anakin, you remember Ardeth," Obi-Wan asked, gesturing between them.

Anakin gave the young twi'lek a smile. "Yes, I remember. The last time I saw him, he was a little tiny thing. He'd just started walking." Anakin said, extending a hand to shake Ardeth's blue one.

"I've heard a lot of stories about you, Master Skywalker," Ardeth said by way of greeting.

"Really?" Anakin asked, darting a quick look at Obi-Wan. "All good things, I hope?"

"Mostly. Along with some of your more spectacular landings," Obi-wan gave Anakin a knowing look. "The last one on Coruscant was one for the history books."

Ahsoka smiled at the two older Jedi. "Too bad it was Palpatine you rescued."

Anakin sat down across from Ardeth, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka on either side. "Should've dropped him down that turbolift shaft when I had the chance," Turning back to his meal, Anakin noticed the sudden silence. Looking up, Anakin frowned. "What?"

"You rescued the Emperor? A _Sith Lord_?" Ardeth asked incredulously.

"Well," Anakin shifted on his chair. "We didn't know he was a Sith at the time. He was the Chancellor and I thought of him as a friend." Anakin shook his head. "I should've known better."

"Palpatine fooled us all," Ahsoka reminded Anakin. "Even the Senate."

Mara asked the question that had been buzzing between Ardeth and Raoul. "How could you have dropped him down a turbolift shaft?"

"Yeah," Ahsoka turned to Anakin. "I've never heard that part either."

Anakin sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, adopting what Luke had called his "story teller pose", and grinned at Obi-Wan. "Obi-Wan was knocked out by Dooku-"

"Of course he starts there," Obi-Wan muttered darkly.

"-So I was carrying him with Palpatine following when the _Invisible Hand_ flipped on its side. We were able to walk up the shaft until it flipped again. Palpatine was hanging from my foot. He almost fell."

"We _did_ fall, if you remember correctly Anakin." Obi-Wan said.

"Yeah, well, that jaunt on _Invisible Hand _made it ten times I've saved your life."

"Nine." Obi-Wan corrected. "Cato Niemodia still doesn't count."

Anakin, who had been balancing his chair on its back legs let his chair fall back to the deck with a bang. "How's that? I saved your life!" mock indignation was clear in his voice. What was also clear was how much Anakin was enjoying the banter between his best friend and himself.

Obi-Wan was clearly enjoying himself as well. Smiling, he informed his former apprentice, "You also got us into that mess. If you hadn't, my life wouldn't have needed saving."

"I got us out, didn't I?" Anakin challenged.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at Ardeth, blue eyes twinkling. "Do I need to repeat myself, Anakin? If you hadn't gotten us into that mess, you wouldn't have had to get us out,"

Mara, who had been watching the scene unfold before her with rapt attention, felt a sudden, familiar pressure at the back of her mind. Standing quickly, she excused herself and hurried out of the crowded mess hall. She half ran to the nearest 'fresher and locked herself in. Dropping to one knee, she opened the connection between herself and her Master.

After being around so many Jedi for so long, Palpatine's Darkness was stifling. _Yes, my Master?_

_You are with Skywalker now, yes? _Darth Sidious asked.

_I am. The ship we are on is currently in hyperspace._

_Good._ Sidious praised._ You have done well, my Hand. Skywalker's children will be arriving on Imperial Center shortly. I want you to stay with Skywalker. Gain his trust._

Mara considered for a moment. _Yes, Master._

_You will not fail me._ Palpatine said, breaking contact. This time, instead of feeling alone, Mara felt free.

And, for the first time, Mara Jade wondered if she was doing the right thing.

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**It's odd. These ten chapters are 62 pages on a word processor. In a notebook, they're 111. Yes, ALL of this story is hand written before I type it, because as I put it in the word processor I edit, delete and remove whole scenes to be replaced with new ones. It also gives me more time to think it through.**

**And, if you're wondering what I did with Artoo, he will have a scene in chapter 11, doing what he does best!**

**Thanks for reading! **

**-CommChatter **


	11. Boredom

**First, let's all have a moment of silence to mourn America as we know it. 2016 can't come soon enough.**

**Second, Happy Veteran's Day. And Armistice Day- WWI ended today in 1918.**

**Belated congrats to JediMasterLoui for the name of Mirana.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not George Lucas. I only own Raoul Tano, Ardeth Vao and Grace Skywalker.**

**STAR WARS **

Artoo-Detoo had been largely left alone after his initial capture. The little droid had been fitted with a restraining bolt and loaded onto the shuttle that the young Skywalkers had been flown to the _Executor_ on.

It hadn't taken much effort on his part to override the bolt and then hack into the shuttle's main computer. Convincing it that he was one of the crew, Artoo had then accessed the computer's files. From those files, Artoo had learned that Luke, Leia and Jinn were on this ship. Anakin and Padmé were on a different shuttle, a _Marauder _class shuttle by the name of _Blade Runner, _and were being taken to Coruscant by an entirely different route. Grace hadn't been mentioned at all in the ship's archive, so Artoo reasoned that she was still safe, and by extension, Threepio.

Artoo rolled cautiously down the ramp of the shuttle into the _Executor_'s main hangar. Pausing, the astromech scanned the nearby area for a computer access terminal. Finding one, he extended his third foot and rolled to the port. Plugging in, Artoo downloaded the schematics of the ship, concentrating on the detention level in the bowels of the ship. What he found was disheartening. Only certain models of droid were allowed down there, and astromechs weren't one of them. He wouldn't be able to get to them down there.

Artoo moaned quietly. He would have to bide his time and move after they were on Coruscant.

"Hey! You droid! Get over here! We've got Interceptors to fix!" an Imperial technician shouted, unwittingly giving Artoo the perfect cover to remain in the hangar. Beeping softly to himself, Artoo rolled over to assist with the fighter.

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The cell Leia had been put in was impeccably clean and well lit, not what she would have expected for a cell in the brig. What passed for a bed, though, left a lot to be desired. It was basically a metal shelf jutting out about two feet from the wall. It was just large enough for her to lay with her arm pressed against the wall.

She could walk the length of the cell in four strides and the width in two. Her room at home on Ansion was almost four times as big.

Sighing, Leia moved to on the bunk. Reaching out to the Force, she felt a void around the door to her cell, where the Force simply didn't exist. Luke and Jinn were on either side of her. Both responded to her mental brush, Luke giving the impression of a supportive hand on her shoulder.

Leia could always sense Luke's thoughts and emotions through the Force clearer than Jinn's. They weren't exactly sure why, but, as Jinn put it, it must be a "freaky Force-bond twin thing". When Luke had pointed out that everything they could do with the Force could be considered freaky, Jinn had amended by saying, "well, freakier".

The main thing Leia was picking up on from Jinn was frustration at his own impotence. He had never been helpless, and now he was locked in a cell and on his way to the one man in the galaxy that wanted to change their very outlook on the Force and life itself. Under the frustration burned fury and fear. Jinn was scared, and he had every right to be, Leia knew, but he seemed to be taking her lesson to heart. He wasn't letting it rule him, and Leia felt a surge of pride. Her little brother learned quickly.

A brittle calm that covered fear radiated from Luke. Her twin had always been the strong one out of the Skywalker quartet. Leia was the strategist and planner, Grace the heart. Jinn was the wild card. Volatile and easily frustrated, her little brother could either act impulsively or come out with a brilliant plan of attack. Impulsiveness was more his forte, but when Jinn did act, he was usually right.

The fact that Luke was scared, actually scared, surprised Leia. Luke was never scared. His amusement at that thought brushed against her. _You know that's not true, Leia._ It wasn't words so much as an _impression_ that she received from Luke, but what the impression meant was obvious.

Her own nervousness was bleeding into her perceptions and making her really, really twitchy. "I wish I had my lightsaber," Leia mumbled to herself. She missed the familiar weight of the weapon, the elegant curve to the hilt, and the glowing amethyst-blue blade similar to their father's.

Leia, like her brothers, had carried her lightsaber with her everywhere after they had finished building their identical 'sabers. The twins' lightsabers had been built together, the design of the hilts were completely identical, the only difference being the blades; Luke's green, Leia's blue. Jinn's lightsaber was orange, the color of the setting sun reflecting off the clouds.

But a Jedi's true weapon was his or her own mind; the lightsaber was just a tool. So Leia relaxed into meditation, following the Force's flow to show her the way out.

So far, answers were not forthcoming.

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Jinn knew anger and fear were of the Dark Side. But what about frustration? It could quickly devolve into fury, but when controlled and channeled correctly, frustration could be a very useful tool.

Jinn could feel Luke and Leia nearby, and through their 'freaky twin bond' they were debating and discarding ideas on how to escape. They couldn't communicate directly through words, so Jinn was mostly getting impressions and feelings that, through the Force, could be translated into ideas. It reminded him of when two comm signals 'crossed' and a person could hear multiple conversations at the same time.

Jinn knew the same as Luke and Leia did that no one was in any position to help them. That they would have to get out by themselves.

_If you want something done right, do it yourself. _Going by what his father had told him, Jinn moved over to examine the edges of the doorframe. _Maybe I can hotwire it open…_ Tracing his fingers around the edges of the door, looking for a crease to exploit.

"Stang," Jinn muttered when his search yielded no results. The Force wasn't much help either. It had vanished as soon as he had stepped over to the door, making Jinn feel vaguely like he was functioning blindfolded and deaf. Irritating, to say the least.

Shifting back to stand upright from his crouch, Jinn eyed the ventilation ducts. _I wonder._ Jumping up onto the steel bunk Jinn measured the grate with his eyes. It would be a tight fit, but he should be able to go through it.

Stretching up, Jinn felt around the edges of the grate, probing for weaknesses both with the Force and his fingers. A sudden tremor in the Force was his only warning. Electricity surged through the grate as he jerked his hand back, hissing a curse in Huttese when he was too slow and was zapped by the grate.

He leapt away from the wall, still swearing, and stood in the middle of the cell. When nothing else happened, he moved back over to the bunk and carefully studied the grate again. This time, he didn't touch it.

"No getting out that way," he commented to himself, shaking his stinging fingers.

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Luke was, despite it all, extremely glad Grace had been able to escape, although he could practically hear Threepio moaning "We're doomed," and scaring her even more. That she was safe and hopefully with their parents made him feel a little better about their current predicament.

Their father had often talked to Luke about worst case scenarios starting a few months prior, when Anakin had started to get hints of an organized rebellion.

_Stay calm and don't panic, _Anakin had said. _Panicking is the worst thing you can do, especially if you're the prisoner. Panicking clouds your thoughts, your reasoning. It's when a prisoner panics that they start to give things under interrogation. Don't let them rattle you, and if they do, _don't_ let them see it. They will use it._

It had seemed easy enough to Luke then. Now, with the possibility of traditional Imperial _interrogation_ staring him in the face, did Luke realize just how hard _not panicking_ could be.

"Stay calm. Yeah, right," Luke snorted and shook his head, causing his shaggy blond hair to flop into his face. He pushed it away impatiently.

There was a flash of pain and irritation from Jinn and the fingers of Luke's left hand tingled with phantom pain. Jinn had tried to open the ventilation duct, it would seem. Luke's amusement received the equivalent of a mental _shut up_ from Jinn, making Luke's smile widen.

Bringing himself back to the matter at hand, Luke considered their situation. Darth Maul had singled him out, from the three of them. Maul wanted to turn Luke to the Dark Side. Not Leia. Not Jinn. Him. The thought was terrifying.

The Dark was powerful, seductive. Or so Anakin had told him. It was quick to join you in a fight, and fickle. The fact that Maul wanted Luke to use it to make him more powerful was a lie, Luke knew. Maul and Palpatine were slaves to their own desires.

And, Luke resolved, he wasn't going to let himself, his brother or his sister meet the same fate.

He'd die first.

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Imperial Center, formerly known as Coruscant, was a confusing mass of lights, durasteel, transparasteel and duracrete. It's beautiful in a chaotic, disorganized way, especially at night, when the headlights of passing speeders could become comets, the large, colorful billboards nebulae.

Home to several billion beings of a multitude of different species, Imperial Center was the center of trade, culture and commerce of the known galaxy. It was also, in the eyes of dissidents, the capital of an unjust regime where nonhumans were persecuted because of the fact that they weren't human.

In Darth Sidious's eyes, that was how things should be. The Emperor stood in the dark room, watching the speeders go by the Palace without seeing them, his thoughts elsewhere. Darth Maul had reported that the three young Jedi were firmly entrenched in Jedi teachings. The two younger ones were superfluous. He only wanted the eldest of the three. Luke. The most powerful of the trio, he was also, unfortunately, the most disciplined. He could, unlike his father, control his emotions. The younger boy was more volatile, but uncontrolled. He would be too dangerous. The girl, Luke's twin, was passionate, but Maul thought, rightly, that she wouldn't turn. Sidious would have to… _dispose _of them.

STAR WARS

"Anakin!" Anakin didn't stop or slow his pace down one of the many corridors of the _Intrepid_ at the sound of Obi-Wan's voice. He only hitched the rucksack higher onto his right shoulder. "Anakin! Hold up!" the Jedi Master caught Anakin by the shoulder and turned his friend to face him. "You're not going after them by yourself, are you?" Obi-Wan asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising one eyebrow, falling back into the irritated-former-master-and-concerned-best-friend pose that he had reserved for Anakin with startling ease.

"If I am?"

"I would encourage you to wait for me."

"You want to come?" surprise sounded clearly in Anakin's voice. Obviously he hadn't thought to ask Obi-Wan to come with him.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan sighed. "Contrary to what you may believe, you don't have to do everything by yourself. And if you would _think_ Anakin, you would realize that you _can't_ go to Coruscant by yourself. It would be a suicide mission."

"That's why I'm going by myself. I'll be the only one to take the fall."

"So you'll storm Imperial Palace by yourself?"

Anakin didn't hesitate. "Yes."

One of Obi-Wan's eyebrows rose. "Really? How would you get past security?"

"I'll figure that out when I get there."

"Or you could shut up and deal with the fact that we're coming with you whether you like it or not." Ahsoka seemed to almost materialize at Anakin's elbow, arms crossed over her chest.

"Ahsoka." Anakin sighed, realizing that arguing with the two of them would get him nowhere. "I should go by myself-"

"And you'll likely be captured. And then Obi-Wan and I would have to come after you anyway. By coming with you, we'll be saving ourselves the trip. And maybe keeping you out of trouble at the same time." Ahsoka said, cutting him off.

"She's got a point, Anakin." Obi-Wan's voice was tinged with amusement.

Anakin shot him a glare that said quite clearly, _shut up._ "Fine. You can come. Raoul and Ardeth can't though. They're too young."

"I believe they would be offended if you gave them that excuse, Skyguy." Ahsoka commented, a smile gracing her features.

"They'll have to deal with it Snips."

"Or we could tell them the truth. The more people we have on this mission, the more likely we are to be found. They're less experienced and more likely to make fatal mistakes."

"Alien traffic is monitored as well." Anakin looked at Ahsoka. "The Imps are requiring all nonhumans to register with planetary security. The fewer nonhumans we have with us, the less noticeable we'll be."

Ahsoka sighed. "Fact of life, I guess. I'll have to deal with it."

"So, Anakin," Obi-Wan focused on his friend. "You will 'allow' us to come with you to Imperial Center then?"

"Yes."

"Good. We'll leave tomorrow morning. Go get some rest, Anakin."

"We're taking the _Franchise_, so I'm going to get her prepped." Before Anakin could protest, Ahsoka turned and hurried off down the hall.

"In the morning, Anakin." Obi-Wan bowed to his friend, then turned and left, leaving his former padawan staring after him.

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**I had to rewrite almost this whole chapter. I still think it could be better, but I'm tired of fussing over it.**

**Hope you like this one better than I do,**

**-CommChatter**


	12. Intrepid

**If you ever want to know what the Twelve Pains of Christmas are, go to YouTube and type in the Twelve Pains of Christmas. Then click on the one by thesteveandkathyshow. Watch it and laugh.**

** Anyways, Can't say that I'm not George Lucas any more, can I? I'm definitely **_**not**_** Mickey Mouse. I still don't own Star Wars. I only own Raoul Tano, Ardeth Vao, Mirana and Grace Skywalker.**

**Enjoy.**

STAR WARS

The hallways of the Mon Cal cruiser _Intrepid _were almost deserted as Rex made his way to the officer's lounge for a late night cup of caf. Maybe, he hoped, the lounge would be empty. He was half way through the door before he saw her sitting at a circular table in the corner. The one person he had hoped to avoid on this ship.

A white ceramic teapot and matching teacup sat in front of her, a cloud of white steam issuing from the spout, though none came from the cup. She had grown since the last time he had seen her, almost seventeen years now. Her montrails, which had brushed her shoulders then, now hung down to just past her hips. She was also several inches taller, when standing, she'd be able to look him squarely in the eyes.

The last time he had seen Ahsoka, she was leaving to return home- her homeworld, Shili-and she was still healing from a blaster wound to the shoulder and another to the back of her leg. Idly, Rex wondered if she still had the scars. He still had the one from when he had been shot in the chest on Saleucami. It was thanks to Kix and the Lawquanes that he survived.

Seeing her again gave Rex an odd tightness in his chest, a feeling he hadn't experienced since he had last seen Ahsoka. It had been worse, almost like an iron band constricting around his heart, when he had thought she was dead.

Quietly, he turned to leave. Her voice stopped him.

"Hi, Rex. It's been a long time."

Cursing silently, Rex turned back. She was now holding the teacup, swirling the dregs around into so that they lapped at the sides in a mini whirlpool. Deciding that leaving now would be rude, Rex stepped the rest of the way into the lounge.

Moving across the room, he programmed the caf machine to brew a cup, and taking a swig, grimaced at the bitter taste. He added a liberal amount of sweetener and creamer before sitting down across from her.

"It has been a long time," he agreed, watching her.

She smiled, a bit sadly, and Rex could see that the Ahsoka Tano sitting in front of him was a different person than the brash Commander Tano that he had served with in the war. She wasn't Jedi padawan Tano either. She was older, wiser. The years had left their mark on her, it would seem.

"I know we just got here," Ahsoka said, looking a little uncomfortable, "But Anakin, Obi-Wan and I are leaving for Imperial Center in the morning." She sighed and rubbed her forehead, pressing the heels of her hands into tired eyes. Then she looked up at him again. "Can you keep an eye on Raoul for me? I just need to know someone's watching him."

She wants him to watch over her son? Rex was the first person to admit that he didn't know anything about kids. He'd never had to deal with them before.

It had been the men under his command that had attempted to kill her. They had been shinies, the lot of them, on their first scouting mission. When the order had gone through, Rex had been too far away to stop the first shots, and by the time he had gotten to her, Ahsoka had been shot twice and was almost incapacitated. She'd been doing her damnedest to fight off the attacking troopers, though. Only Rex and Ahsoka had walked away from that fight. They had then spent the next two months playing a very high stakes game of hide-and-seek with Commander Cody's 212th.

Rex still, seventeen years later, marveled at the fact that Ahsoka, Anakin and Master Kenobi had forgiven him so easily. Now Ahsoka was asking him to look after her son. Odd, how some things worked out. "You know I don't know anything about kids, right?" Rex hedged, knowing, as she seemed to, that he would be doing it anyway.

Ahsoka cracked a smile. "As Raoul so often reminds me, he's not a child. He's older than I was when we met- he doesn't need someone hanging over his shoulder. Just someone to check on him."

"Why isn't he going with you?" Rex questioned, one black eyebrow raised.

Ahsoka gave Rex a small smile. "Anakin and Obi-Wan are-were war heroes. Almost everyone knew their faces, and mine as well. Raoul and Ardeth aren't coming to protect them. Despite whatever Raoul might tell you."

That was a reasonable enough explanation. Rex shrugged. What trouble could Raoul be? Although, if his mother was anything to go by, he could get into a lot of trouble fairly easily. If he was anything like Ahsoka, he was just as capable of getting into trouble as getting out of it.

Rex looked up and met Ahsoka's expectant blue eyes. "I'll do it," he said, nodding. He tried to ignore the flips his stomach made when she smiled at him.

"Thanks Rex,"

STAR WARS

Of course, Ahsoka's thought on why Raoul should remain with the fleet did not go over with him as well as it had with Rex.

"So, what you're _really_ saying is that you don't want me to come. You think I'm a liability that I'm going to get in your way." Raoul said, leaning his back and shoulders against the wall.

Ahsoka cringed at his accusatory tone. He was absolutely right, after all. It just sounded so much more reasonable coming from Obi-Wan.

"Raoul, we're going to Coruscant, the Empire's capital. Aliens are monitored there more aggressively than humans- one alien and two humans would be less noticeable than three aliens and two humans." She paused at the flash of indignant outrage that rippled out from Raoul through the Force, then after he had it under control, she pushed on. "Anakin and Obi-Wan are recognizable enough without anything else to draw attention to them." Ahsoka sighed and put a hand on Raoul's shoulder, he shook it off. "If you came along, the odds of us all getting out with Anakin's children would be astronomical-"

"It's Imperial Center. The odds of getting in and out are astronomical anyway." Raoul interjected sullenly, green eyes narrow.

"Undetected. Ahsoka clarified. "We want to get in and out as fast as we can. You- and Ardeth- don't have the experience you need to operate behind enemy lines."

Raoul's eyes narrowed even further and he cut right to the heart of the problem. "You just don't want me to come because you think I need to be protected and that I can't handle it." He stood up straight from his slouch against the wall. His white marked eyebrows drew together in a frown and his black and white montrails twitched in irritation as he spoke.

Right on point. Now Ahsoka understood her Master's frustration with her when he had to try to explain to his irate padawan why she couldn't go on a mission. Looking back, Ahsoka understood that it had been necessary for the success of the mission in question.

In retrospect, there were some missions that she probably wouldn't have gone on- and she knew that Raoul would feel that way twenty or so years down the line when he had greater knowledge of the Force. Now though, Ahsoka had to be the Master that wanted her padawan to survive to knighthood, not the mother that wanted to keep her son happy.

"Raoul, I know this isn't what you want, but right now, you need to stay here. Ardeth and Mara are staying here as well-" Ahsoka ignored Raoul's muttered comment that Mara wasn't a Jedi. "Maybe you and Ardeth could teach her more about the Force." She suggested, remembering what the boys had told the elder Jedi after Mara had excused herself from the mess hall earlier that day.

Raoul huffed and plunked down on one of the straight backed chairs. Knowing that arguing with his mother was a pointless endeavor, he lapsed into silence. Then, "I hope your mission goes as planned, Master."

His voice was flat, emotionless as it always was when he was upset, and Ahsoka inwardly cringed at her son's calling her 'master'. He was upset, but there was nothing she could do about that. Ahsoka wanted her son to be safe, and now he would be.

She just wished she didn't have to alienate him in the process.

STAR WARS

_Leia was screaming. Her face was twisted in pain and horror, her brown eyes, so like Padmé's, were wide with pain and fear. Then she changed and became Jinn._

_ Blood ran down the side of his face, and his eyes, so blue and expressive, so full of life and good humor, were dull, almost dead. They seemed to stare at him accusingly even as his face grew slightly more angular, the widow's peak receding, blond hair darkening slightly until he had morphed into Luke._

_ Like Leia, Luke was screaming, his face pinched in pain. Unlike Leia, words could be heard. "Father! Help!"_

_ Luke's eyes were the first to change. They became yellow, red-rimmed, his face disfigured until Darth Sidious stared back, his face twisted into a feral grin. He laughed…_

With a wordless cry, Anakin sat bolt upright. Cold sweat ran down his arms and heaving chest, raising his hands, which Anakin noticed were shaking badly, he ran them through his hair.

He hadn't had a dream like this since… before the twins were born. To have this one now, in all honesty, scared the hell out of him. The dreams Anakin had had in the past like this one had all been terrifying in their intensity- because all but the one about Padmé had come true. If this one did, the consequences would be worse. Not to mention the fact that, as a father, he hated seeing his children harmed, even if they were just dream versions of them.

Knowing that going back to sleep was not an option after that dream's disturbing attack, Anakin stood and dressed quickly before leaving the room that he, Padmé and Grace were sharing.

Those dreams were a curse.

STAR WARS

"You're new here,"

Mara looked up from the datapad she had appropriated from a passing droid to see the female Twi'lek that Ardeth had called their attention to. Her skin was a dusky red, Lethan, Mara remembered. The coloring was the result of a genetic mutation, making red Twi'leks rare.

She was wearing a blue flight suit with the top half unzipped and pushed off her shoulders, the arms tied around her hips with casual familiarity, a white sleeveless shirt on underneath. Her lekku, long and shapely by Twi'lek standards, hung unadorned down her back.

She sat down in one of the old loungers across from Mara, uninvited. Leaning forward, brown eyes bright, she extended one red hand. "Miranaken'yon," she smiled at Mara as they shook hands. "Just call me Mirana, otherwise it's a bit of a mouthful. What's your name?"

Mirana's smile was infectious- it brightened her eyes and face and made her instantly likeable. Returning the smile, Mara answered. "Mara Jade."

Mirana tilted her head. "Your accent- are you from Coruscant?"

Having already gone through this routine several times before, Mara knew that Coruscant, as the rebels called Imperial Center, was a rather large enigma. Most people from the Empire's capital didn't join the Alliance- which was predominately from the Mid and Outer Rim systems- simply because security was too tight for sympathizers to leave undetected. Most were trapped in the planetary shield before they could escape.

At Mara's nod, Mirana grinned. "Glad you got out. Didn't you come in with the Tanos? I thought I saw with that Jedi- Vao, I think."

"Ardeth," Mara agreed. Did Mirana know that Ardeth liked her? If she did, she didn't show it. "How did you know I came in with the Tanos?"

The pilot grinned and leaned forward conspiratorially. "Techs. They know everything worth hearing about on the ship. If there's a tech anywhere near something, chances are the whole ship will know about it in an hour or so."

"That's… useful." Mara commented, inwardly cringing. The Rebels had their own shipwide spy network!

"It can be," Mirana agreed, nodding, seemingly oblivious to Mara's discomfort. "It can also get uncomfortable fairly quickly-" A sudden claxon rang out- the call that dictated when the pilots would fly. 

"Gotta go!" Mirana, along with several other beings- the Zeltron and brunette woman among them, swarmed en masse out the door to the lounge, leaving Mara staring after them, wondering if Mirana had been giving her a veiled warning.

STAR WARS

A small group gathered around the ramp of the freighter _Star Franchise_ to bid the Jedi good bye.

Unshed tears pricked at Anakin's eyes as he hugged Padmé. "Be careful Ani," she whispered, her breath lightly brushing against his ear and tickling his neck.

Stepping back, Anakin nodded. "I will."

Padmé smiled tearfully. "Liar."

Returning the smile he didn't feel, Anakin shrugged. "Worth a shot."

Anakin knelt down in front of Grace, who was trying to hold back tears. For all her efforts, she was failing. She sniffed, then stepped forward to hug Anakin tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck. Anakin felt his airway constrict as Grace hugged him, a bit too tightly perhaps, but he didn't have the heart to tell her that.

"Be safe, Daddy. Bring them home." Her voice hitched at the end, and Anakin was forcibly reminded of her recent traumatic experience as she shuddered in his arms.

Gently disengaging himself from Grace, Anakin met her eyes. "Hey, Gracie. I'll be fine, sweetheart." Anakin paused and looked over her head at Padmé. If he gave Grace a 'job' she'd have something else to concentrate on, instead of the dreams. "Do you think you could keep your mother out of trouble?"

Grace frowned at him, clearly picking out his thoughts. Then smiled at Padmé. "That's a big job." She commented.

"Very," Anakin agreed, nodding. "I think you can do it."

"I know I can." Grace answered, stepping back to join her mother.

"We'll be back before you know it." Anakin hugged the both of them one more time before turning to walk up the ramp. He hesitated before he hit the switch to close it, hearing his mother's words echo across the decades.

"_Don't look back, Ani."_

STAR WARS

** This one didn't want to be typed. Anakin's dream was a last minute addition, so I hope it's ok.**

** Reviews make me happy!**

**-CommChatter**


	13. Stranded

**Wow, you're lucky. Two chapters in two days.**

**Congrats to Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay for posting the 100th review!**

**I'm not Walt Disney, or any part of the Disney conglomerate, so Star Wars still doesn't belong to me. Only Grace Skywalker, Raoul Tano, Mirana and Ardeth Vao are mine.**

**Enjoy.**

STAR WARS

Awareness came rushing back to Jinn quickly enough to send his senses reeling. Which was odd, considering the fact that he didn't remember falling asleep. He sat bolt upright as his head cleared, but that only made him more nauseous as the room around him seemed to turn in one large loop, making him gag.

Groaning, Jinn pushed himself against a wall, for once thankful that the Imperials had only served them sporadic meals- otherwise, he might have just splattered the contents of his stomach around his cell… wait a second.

Cracking his eyes open, Jinn shook his head. _"Kriff._ _Not_ a good idea," He groaned as the room tilted wildly on its axis before settling again. Blinking owlishly, he stared around his current prison. Which happened to look like the hold of a spaceship. Which was odd, considering the fact that Jinn remembered, quite vividly, being transferred to the Super Star Destroyer _Executor._

Jinn staggered to his feet, immediately sending his head spinning and bringing to the fore of his mind the fact that he had a splitting headache. He braced himself against the wall in an effort to remain upright as his vision tunneled and his head pounded unnervingly loud and in time with his heart.

Stretching out blindly to the Force, Jinn sighed in relief as it washed over him in a wave of warmth and energy that washed the headache and nausea like a river would a tree branch. Pulling himself together, Jinn looked around. And stared.

The room, which might have been the hold of the ship at one time, had been stripped down to bare durasteel. There was a stuttered thrum through the ship that he felt though his feet. Across the room, Jinn saw another figure sprawled against the wall.

"Leia!" pushing himself off the wall, Jinn staggered across the room and dropped to his knees next to his sister. Rolling her over, Jinn was gripped with an irrational fear. What if she was dead? He shook her shoulders gently. "Leia, come on,"

Her eyelids fluttered before her brown eyes flew open. Even before she was fully conscious she was flailing- Jinn ducked and caught the fist that she launched at him. "Whoa! Leia, easy! It's me! Just Jinn!" He half shouted, probably louder than necessary as he caught a hold of her left hand when she took another blind swing at him.

Eyes finally focusing on him, Leia relaxed. "Jinn?" she repeated, blinking quickly as the rest of her reeling senses caught up with her instincts.

Deciding that his sister had regained her senses, Jinn released his hold on Leia's wrists and rocked back to balance on his heels as she sat up. "Yes, that'd be me, the guy you just tried to concuss." He replied, his voice tinged with sarcasm.

Leia ignored him as she scanned their latest prison. "Where are we?"

Jinn shrugged. "Not on the _Executor_. I don't think so, anyway." Gesturing around them, he continued. "This would be a rather elaborate ploy to convince us that we're away…" he trailed off, realizing that someone was missing. "Where's Luke?"

STAR WARS

Something was wrong. Something other than the obvious, anyway.

Jinn and Leia were gone. Luke had felt that much before he had been blocked from the Force. He had felt them both go unconscious and be removed out of their cells, and then they were suddenly drifting farther away before Luke felt the now familiar sensation of the _Executor_ jumping to hyperspace.

Honestly, Luke didn't know whether he should be overjoyed or terrified that Maul had suddenly and inexplicably released Leia and Jinn. Maybe they were safe, maybe they were in even more danger than they were in before. The _what if?s_ were going to drive him insane- which was probably what Maul wanted anyway. If it was, he was succeeding wonderfully.

Sighing in frustration, Luke sank down onto his poor excuse for a bed and dragged his hands though his hair.

He hated this.

STAR WARS

If a droid could panic, Artoo would be beyond panicking. It was bad enough that his masters had been captured in the first place, but now the Empire had seen fit to split up the three that he was planning on rescuing!

He had almost burned out several circuits agonizing over who to help before Artoo had decided that Luke, who had remained in his cell, was in more danger for now, than Jinn and Leia.

They were going to reach Coruscant in a matter of hours. If Artoo was going to help Luke, he was going to have to work fast. So that was why Artoo could be found rolling down one of the main hallways in the _Executor_ to the armory where the ship's computer had told him his masters' lightsabers were being held.

Plugging into a nearby computer terminal, Artoo overrode the door's security and opened it. Dome swiveling, Artoo rolled into the armory and scanned the large room's contents. Blasters of every possible size were in brackets lining the walls. Stormtrooper armor was stacked neatly in lockers, with the helmets balanced on top, the black photoreceptor lenses looked like bulbous black eyes that followed him down the aisle as he went, beeping jauntily to himself.

It was something that Artoo had learned from Master Anakin. If you acted like you belonged somewhere, chances are you won't be challenged. So the off-duty stormtroopers barely even gave the droid a second glance as he rolled through them. All except for two Clone War veterans, the only ARC troopers in the room.

They were both clones of the late bounty hunter Jango Fett and formerly part of Torrent Company, under the command of Anakin Skywalker. They recognized Artoo as their former commander's eccentric astromech and watched in silent anticipation as the R2 unit rolled over to the locker where the young Skywalkers' lightsabers had been stored.

Using a grasping appendage, Artoo removed the three lightsabers and stored them in a compartment in his blue and white dome. Mission accomplished, Artoo rolled away and out the door to return to the hangar bay, where he was able to hide in plain sight. There were many droids down there to assist in repairs on the TIE fighters. One more would go unnoticed.

STAR WARS

CT-27-5555 and CT-21-0408 were veterans of the Clone War. They had been on board the _Resolute _when Order 66 had gone through, and in the hangar bay with a group of shinies and then-General Skywalker. They had been the only two to not open fire on Skywalker as he sprinted to his fighter, astromech right behind him. They had been the only ones to be relieved that their Jedi General had escaped and wasn't killed. They had been even more relieved that Commander Tano- Torrent Company's 'little sister' had escaped as well.

The two clones knew they were part of a dying breed- the older ones from the 501st were steadily disappearing to be replaced by younger, more obedient, less free thinking clones. Drones, Commander Cody had called them. No compassion, they took orders and executed them, no matter what they were.

The two ARCs were the only ones left from the original 501st, and they had heard rumors of older clones defecting to the Rebellion. Rex had been the first; he had deserted when Order 66 had been given. The 501st's captain had always been the first to question orders, the first to disobey. This new Empire would have killed him. Rex would have been the first to go, and they both knew it. Commander Cody, formerly of the 212th, had gotten wind of his own impending removal and defected as well.

CT-27-5555 and CT-21-0408 now found this option even more appealing. Exchanging quick looks, they stood up from the corner they had claimed, sabacc cards forgotten.

"That R2 unit looks familiar," CT-27-5555 muttered to CT-21-0408.

"Do you think he's here?" his counterpart murmured back, stepping around another clone before returning to his friend's side.

"Echo, do you really think he would be foolish enough to come here? I know that's his droid, but why would it be here?" CT-27-5555 puzzled, mostly to himself.

"Do you think that General Skywalker's been captured?" Echo asked as the two exited into the hallway.

"Keep your voice down!" the other clone hissed, grabbing his brother by the arm and hauling him off in the direction of the stormtroopers' quarters. "Do you want to get shot?" He demanded, more irritated than anything else.

"Relax, Fives. They'd need more than that to incriminate us."

At that, Fives stared at Echo for a moment before shaking his head and running a hand through his short hair.

"What?" Echo demanded.

Fives smiled. "I'm turning into you. Kriff, that's a scary thought." He shuddered theatrically. At Echo's unamused stare, he elaborated. "You used to be the one who worried about regulations. Now you're the daredevil. How the hell did that happen?"

Echo ignored the question and continued. "That droid took three lightsabers. I didn't recognize any of them-" he broke off as a bridge officer walked by, and then continued. "The design is similar to Skywalker's."

"How did you get a look at Skywalker's lightsaber?" Fives asked, sidetracked.

"Not important. You forget that I was in the hangar when they brought the prisoners in. They were kids." Echo said regretfully, shaking his head mournfully.

"Kids?" Fives repeated, frowning.

"Jedi kids. Maul was waiting for them when they got here. Told one of the kids that he was powerful." Echo paused as Fives keyed the door to the bunkroom open.

Sparsely furnished with four bunk beds and one trunk for each clone, the room was positively barren. Everything was the same shade of polished gray. There weren't any chairs, so the duo sat down opposite each other on the two bunks at the back of the room.

"The best part?" Echo started "Is that Lord Maul mentioned General Skywalker by name." He paused for dramatic effect, earning an irritated look from Fives before he continued. "As their father."

Fives was silent for almost a full minute before saying, "General Skywalker is their father. Our former commanding officer." He shook his head. "Stang."

"Stang." Echo agreed, nodding. "The two boys looked enough like him. The girl, though…" Echo trailed off, racking his brain, knowing that he recognized her from somewhere, but not where. "She looks like one of the women back during the war."

Fives rolled his eyes. "_That _narrows it down. There's only several billion human women in the galaxy."

Ignoring his brother's sarcasm, Echo snapped his fingers. "The senator from the Chrommell Sector! What was her name?"

Fives, who had sprawled himself across the bunk he had claimed, sat up and planted his feet on the floor. "Binks? The Gungan? I'm pretty sure that was male."

Echo waved a hand in Fives's direction distractedly before, "Amidala!" he cried triumphantly. "Senator Padmé Amidala!"

"The leader of the Delegation of Two Thousand? I didn't think Skywalker liked politicians."

"Then you obviously didn't pay attention. Kenobi was the one that hated politicians. General Skywalker carried a holoprojector with him almost everywhere. I'd bet anything there was a holo of her on it."

"It was sixteen years ago! How do you know this, anyway?"

Ignoring Fives completely, Echo shook his head. "My point is that we know who these kids are. We need to do something about it."

Fives shook his head, laughed once, and ran his hand through his hair. "Like what exactly?"

"Honestly?" Echo looked up and met Fives's eyes. "I haven't got a clue."

"Great!" Fives clapped his hands together and leaned back. "Not only have we figured out that we have to do something, but we have to figure out what and how in the next fourty-eight hours!"

"I need to talk to that droid." Echo was halfway across the room before Fives leapt up off the bunk to follow him out the door.

STAR WARS

Leia felt like she had been run over by a herd of stampeding banthas. Her head pounded along with the beat of her heart, and if she moved too quickly her world would suddenly and unexpectedly do a complete 360 before settling again. The effect was maddening. She had attempted to draw on the Force, but she couldn't focus enough to do that, which really irked her.

A storm of Huttese curses brought her attention back to the crawlspace that she was seated next to. It was quiet for a moment, then there was a muffled _thunk _and a particularly vile curse before Jinn appeared, massaging the top of his head. He was covered in dust, a grease spot smeared across his nose, and he looked very irritated as he glared back down at the engine.

His presence in the Force was muted, and Leia realized that he had clamped down rather tightly on his emotions.

"A hand, please?" Jinn asked, holding out his left hand.

Leia took his hand with her right and hauled him out of the compartment, openly grinning as he groaned and straightened slowly, stiffly. She heard Jinn's back snap and pop loudly, prompting him to sigh in relief. Straightening up to his full height, he rolled his neck and shoulders before leaning back against a bulkhead.

As Leia watched him, Jinn suddenly became very interested in his boots, poking the toe at the grating on the floor. "You do realize that we worked mainly on speeders back home, right?" he asked, voice oddly flat.

Leia recognized this voice as an avoidance tactic, one that he had often used, with minimal success, on their parents. She knew from experience- watching her mother wait him out, mostly, so she didn't say anything and waited. She did, however, have a very, very bad feeling about this.

Jinn sighed and ran grease stained fingers through his blond hair, making the shorter hairs in the front stand on end. Leia sensed him brace himself and saw him take a deep breath. "Do you want the bad news or the really bad news?"

Damn, Leia thought. "What's the difference?" she asked, Jinn's discomfort transferring to her.

"Ah, life and death, mainly," Jinn answered, lifting his eyes to meet Leia's.

She sighed and shook her head. "Just tell me, Jinn."

Jinn dragged both his hands through his already greasy hair again and sighed, then said without preamble, "Sublight engine's shot. I can't fix it without a space dock, and even then we'd need to replace the engine itself. Hyperdrive's intact." He added almost as an afterthought, frowning at the toes of his boots. "Holocomm's busted. So's the hypercomm module."

Leia thought for a moment, then asked, "The hyperdrive-"

Jinn was already shaking his head. "Won't work. We need the sublights to get up to speed to make the jump. Without sublights, the hyperdrive's useless."

Leia had the impression that her younger brother was hiding something, mainly the 'really bad news'. Finally she decided to push him. "That's the bad news," she said. "What's the really bad news? Or do I not want to know?"

Jinn laughed once, and ran his left hand through his hair again, a nervous habit that both he and Luke had picked up from their father. "You probably don't want to know." He sighed, then said, "Five days."

A hard knot started to form in the pit of Leia's stomach. "What?"

Jinn looked up and met her eyes. "Five days. That's how long we have until life support fails." He gestured around the hold. "This ship's going to be our coffin."

STAR WARS

** Well, that's probably not what you expected. I had not originally intended to do this. Then this particular plotline beat me over the head and demanded to be written. So here it is. **

**Hope you liked it!**

**-CommChatter**


	14. Travels

**First off, I want to say that my heart goes out to the people who lost loved ones at the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. I can't even imagine what losing a child would feel like.**

**Second, I guess the Mayans were wrong, so now I have to come up with an end to this story. And finish my English essay (Damn).**

**STAR WARS**

Judging from the look on Leia's face, she was going to faint. "What?" she asked. Her voice sounded almost mechanical.

Jinn sighed. "We have five days until life support fails." He repeated, watching his sister with concern as she slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "You okay?" he asked, brushing his fingers against his pant legs.

The glare Leia gave him told Jinn that she was not okay by any means of the word. "Okay?" she demanded. "You just told me that we're going to die in five days, and you're asking me if I'm okay? What kind of question is that!?" as she spoke, her voice became higher and a bit hysterical, not that Jinn was going to point that out.

"Okay, okay! Leia, I'm sorry. It was a stupid question." Jinn said, raising his hands in surrender.

"I thought that was obvious!"

Jinn ignored Leia's sarcasm. "There's a few things that Dad taught me that I want to try. I might be able to fix a comm unit." He said, starting off in the direction of the cockpit.

"You can fix it?" Leia chased after him down the hallway. Jinn tried not to notice the hope that flared in his sister's voice and Force-signature.

"Possibly." He tossed her an irreverent grin. "Fixing speeders isn't the only thing I'm good for." He opened the door and had the feeling he had spoken too soon. "What a mess." He looked around at the destruction that had been visited on the cockpit.

The comm console had been ripped apart, as had the pilot's controls, which looked like they had met the blade of a lightsaber and had been sheared off in one long sweep. The navicomputer, oddly, had been left alone.

Leia sat in the navigator's seat as Jinn headed for the comm. "Where are we, Leia?" Jinn asked, pawing through the comm's destroyed innards. He pulled out a few components that might still be useful before she answered.

"Off the Hydian Way, about four light years from the nearest system."

"Which is?" Jinn prompted, hissing and jerking his hand back when it caught on a jagged piece of metal.

"Um," Leia paused. "Dantooine."

"Back of beyond." Jinn grumbled, pulling another useful component out.

"How back of beyond?" Leia asked.

Jinn snorted. "Outer Rim by the Corporate Sector, in the Tingel Arm. Middle of kriffin' nowhere. Dantooine's primitive, we won't be able to raise anyone there." He looked over his shoulder at Leia. "Shouldn't you know this?"

"It's a big galaxy." Leia defended. "How do you know all this, anyway?"

There was curiosity behind the challenge, Jinn felt it clearly. He grinned at her. "Do you think that the only thing Luke and I did with Dad was fix speeders?" as he spoke, he wrestled with a bolt. "How do you think I know how to do this?"

"Dad taught you?" Leia asked, surprised.

"Yeah." Jinn said in his best _duh_ voice. "He also taught us to fly starships and set navicomputers. Which I could do if the engines worked!" he said the last quite loudly, thumping the side of the console as he spoke.

"Okay." Leia frowned at her brother's back. "Can you salvage it?"

Jinn rocked back on his heels, and despite the situation, Leia had to stifle a laugh. His hair was in complete disarray, sticking out in every direction. The grease smudge on his nose had spread, leaving the left side of his face covered with a thin layer of grease. He scowled at her when she covered her mouth.

"I don't know yet. I have to see what I can do with it." He stood up and stretched. "Any chance that there's food here? I'm starving."

"I doubt it." Leia stood from the chair and followed him out of the cockpit.

STAR WARS

"Just like old times, huh?" Ahsoka asked dropping down into the co-pilot's seat and glancing over at Anakin, who had monopolized the pilot's seat.

_Star Franchise_ was an old freighter of indeterminate age and model that Ahsoka had bought a few months before in preparation to join the Rebellion. At the time, Raoul had jokingly referred to the ship as the _Star Folly- _until they had run into an Imperial blockade and the _Franchise_ had proven just how powerful the retrofitted drives were. After that, Raoul had been a little nicer in his criticism. The memory made her smile.

Anakin was older, more worn. The same spirit burned in his sky blue eyes, the same intensity. Dark circles were under his eyes, making their color stand out even more than normal. The almost seventeen years of separation had changed him, and to Ahsoka, he seemed calmer, more at peace. Or he would have been, present circumstances notwithstanding.

"Almost." He answered. He smiled sardonically. "A different war, and we're all seventeen years older." Anakin sounded exhausted; Ahsoka didn't need the Force to see that.

Ahsoka sighed. Padmé had taken her aside before they had left and asked her to take care of Anakin, because, obviously, he wasn't going to. At the rate he was going, he would be in a stupor by the time they reached Coruscant. "You should rest." Anakin turned to face her, but she hurried on before he could speak. "Anakin, you're not going to do them any good by staying awake."

There was a swirl of emotions around him when he answered. "I failed them. I promised them that I would keep them safe and I failed." Anakin's voice cracked and he stood, pacing away from the worn pilot's chair. "What can I do but work to get them back?"

Ahsoka stood too, placing herself firmly on the deck between Anakin and the consoles, crossed her arms across her chest, and drew herself up to her full height. "You could start by getting some rest."

Anakin spun. "Do you think I can sleep? Every time I try, I see them! They're dead, or being tortured or with Sidious! Tell me, how the _hell_ am I supposed to sleep when I see that?"

Ahsoka felt a rush of parental sympathy. If their positions were reversed, she would be the wreck that Anakin currently was. "Anakin, I know that you're upset. I would be too. You need to rest so that when we do find them, we can go after them. Without endangering you or them even more."

The door cycled open behind them, but neither noticed, locked as they were in their staring contest. Obi-Wan's voice made them both start. "Ahsoka's right, Anakin. You should rest."

"I rested when I was in the bacta tank." Anakin said, but he was starting to wilt, knowing that he was defeated but not quite ready to concede it yet.

Obi-Wan saw it too and launched one final volley. "I don't think the twins or Jinn would want you to over stretch yourself. They'll need you rested, Anakin."

Anakin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Padmé put you up to this, didn't she?"

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan traded guilty looks before Ahsoka answered. "Well, someone has to take care of you. You're obviously not going to."

One of Obi-Wan's eyebrows rose. "Did you have to ask? Even if she hadn't, do you think we wouldn't try to get you to rest?"

Anakin muttered something vaguely long-suffering sounding in Huttese before sighing again. "Fine, I'll go." He paused at the door, oblivious to the surprised looks Ahsoka and Obi-Wan gave each other behind his back. Turning back to them, he said, "If you hear _anything_, I want to know. I don't care if I'm sleeping, wake me up."

The door cycled closed as Anakin left, and, when they were sure he was gone, "That was easy," Ahsoka commented.

"It won't be tomorrow." Obi-Wan answered.

For the first time since their capture two weeks ago, Anakin slept without nightmares.

STAR WARS

The same, unfortunately, could not be said for Grace.

Padmé, who had been unable to sleep to begin with, pushed herself up out of the bed and crossed the room to another, smaller and stepped inside to be met by a concerned Lily, tail waving.

"Mom?" the glow panel on the bulkhead, which had been on the lowest setting, flared brightly, leaving Padmé blinded momentarily. Black spots dancing before her, Padmé sat down on the bed next to Grace.

Being a family and a part of the Council, gave the Skywalkers a larger cabin, big enough for Anakin, Padmé, and Grace. Luke, Leia, and Jinn would have to be assigned cabins elsewhere on the ship, if Anakin found them.

_Not if._ Padmé reminded herself fiercely, _When. When he found them._ "What's the matter Gracie?" Padmé murmured quietly, blinking rapidly and becoming more alert.

Grace was wide awake, cradling the training lightsaber that Luke had made for her birthday. She was sitting with her back against the wall, knees drawn up to her chest. She unfolded and scooted into her mother's arms, leaning into her, drawing comfort form her presence. "Luke's in trouble, Mom." A small, troubled frown creased her forehead. "Well, more trouble, anyway."

The breath froze in Padmé's lungs for a moment. Grace, they had realized many years ago had, along with Jinn, inherited their father's curse of prophetic dreams. "What did you see, Grace?" Padmé asked gently.

Grace leaned into Padmé's embrace and stared down at her lightsaber. "There was a man in black. I couldn't see his face 'cause he had his hood up. He was in a dark room and he was sitting on a big chair." She paused, frown deepening. "There was a sound… like the breath mask they put on Dad after the accident."

_Maul, _Padmé thought.

Grace took a deep, steadying breath and leaned even further into Padmé's arms. "That sound got louder and louder until another man came in. He had Luke, Mom." Grace's voice cracked. "He was hurt, and he looked scared." She looked up and Padmé saw tears running silently down her cheeks. "Luke is never scared Mom. And Leia and Jinn weren't there."

Padmé's heart felt like it was constricting painfully. "They weren't there?"

Grace shook her head. "I didn't see them." She whispered. "I _can't _see them. It's too dark."

Now Padmé understood what had scared Grace so badly. Anakin had explained that Grace and her visions were special among Jedi. Her mental links to her elder siblings and Father allowed her to 'see' what was happening to or around them. She could also establish empathy links other Force-sensitives and, at times, communicate with them.

Dealing with these visions when she had been a child had been… exciting, to say the least. Teaching her to not openly discuss her gift in front of others had been even more challenging, Padmé remembered. The superstitious locals had called Grace psychic, which was true, from a certain point of view.

Not that Padmé knew what Grace meant by 'it's too dark', but she understood the general idea. The fact that Grace couldn't 'see' them made her very nervous.

"Can you sense them?" Padmé whispered, fearing the answer.

Grace's frown relaxed slightly. "Yes."

Padmé sighed. She hated waiting.

STAR WARS

Raoul had been considering mutiny for what felt like days. He was sitting in the corner of the mess hall that, apparently, doubled as a night club-slash-bar during _Intrepid_'s night cycle. His mother would kill him if she found him here, Raoul was sure, but right now, he couldn't care less.

He hadn't gotten a name exactly- someone told him Pandemonium, which Raoul thought fairly accurate. Others, in various states of intoxication, gave him such names as The Dive, Fool's Folly, Chaos, and one rather inebriated Gran told him, ironically, the Rebel Drunkard, which Raoul thought described the alien better than the bar itself.

Raoul stared pensively at the glass of Corellian brandy, unable to believe that the bartender, an aging Sullustan, had actually given it to him. Cautiously, he took a sip, and cringed as the brandy burned down his throat. Raoul gasped in a breath and promptly started coughing.

"Take it easy, kid." A woman's voice said as a hand thumped him on the back.

Eyes watering, Raoul looked up to meet the woman's eyes. She was a Twi'lek, with dusky red skin and open, brown eyes. Clearing his throat, Raoul rasped, "You're still a kid, too."

The Twi'lek smiled. "At least I can hold my liquor." She sat down across from him, a small bottle of Whyren's Reserve in hand. She wasn't wearing the usual pilot's off-duty uniform, but something that looked decidedly smuggler-ish. Despite that, Raoul recognized her as the pilot that Ardeth had told them was Mirana.

"So, why are you here?" she asked, brown eyes bright.

Raoul toyed with his glass, tilting it so that the amber liquid caught the light. "No where else to be, I guess."

One of her eyebrows rose in a gesture that clearly showed her close association with humans. "There's somewhere you want to be."

"What?"

Mirana snorted. "I thought you Jedi were perceptive. You're in a bar, sulking-"

"I am not sulking-"

"What would you call it then?"

"Um,"

"Exactly. You're sulking. You want to be somewhere else."

Raoul stared at her warily. "I guess you're right."

When it became obvious that he wasn't going to elaborate, Mirana leaned forward. "Then what are you doing here?"

Raoul resumed staring at his brandy. "I can't go."

The Twi'lek's lekku twitched in irritation at his non-answer. "Why not?"

"I don't know where they went."

Mirana stared at Raoul for a moment before asking, "Can't you track them with your Force?"

Raoul shook his head. "It's not that easy."

Mirana's eyebrows rose again. "Not easy, or you don't want to?"

Raoul stared down at his orange, long-fingered hands. "I don't know if I can."

Mirana studied Raoul intently. "Sometimes you need to take the first step in the dark in order to get anywhere."

Raoul looked up and met her eyes. "What?"

Mirana smiled slightly, almost bitterly. "You know where I'm from, don't you?"

Raoul's face creased as he frowned, the tips of his montrails twitching slightly. "Nal Hutta…" he looked up sharply, eyes widening in realization. "You were a slave, weren't you?"

"What else would a young female Twi'lek be doing on a Hutt controlled world?"

Raoul listened to her, the story she told, torn between morbid curiosity and compassion for her plight. "How did you-"

"Get out?" Mirana finished his thought for him. "I was a dancer in Borga the Hutt's palace. One of his favored dancers." A tremor ran through her head-tails, making them twitch.

Raoul grimaced. He had heard stories of what could happen to Hutt slaves. He knew what could happen to them. That Mirana was still passionate and not completely jaded was a miracle unto itself. "How did you get here?"

Mirana smiled at a memory. "A group of smugglers freed me. One of them, Jak, he taught me to fly. I joined the Alliance as soon as I got the chance." She seemed to come to a decision before looking up and meeting Raoul's eyes. "Hangar seven. My ship's called _Second Chance_." She stood up. "Good luck." She tossed him a chip. "To get you past the security measures." Then she walked away.

Raoul stared after her retreating back. "Thanks. I think." He picked up the chip and studied it for a moment, then shot to his feet and hurried out, brandy forgotten. He had to find Ardeth.

STAR WARS

**So, what do you think? Let me know! Oh, and Merry Christmas!**

**-CommChatter**


	15. The Stage is Set

**Hi, everyone! Is it odd that when I'm back to school that I have more time to write? Weird, anyway.**

**Standard disclaimers apply. I only own Grace Skywalker, Ardeth Vao, Mirana, and Raoul Tano.**

Crazy: Thanks, I'm glad you like this story. Every review that people leave is a little humbling. I never thought this story would get as many views and reviews as it did.

Ryan: thanks for the catch. I fixed that.

STAR WARS

The _Executor _didn't revert from hyperspace so much as it erupted. The ships waiting for clearance to land on Imperial Center shifted, rippling outward nervously like a school of fish on Dac, confronted with a hungry shark.

Darth Maul felt their fear and reveled in it. Extending his senses, he felt the Skywalker boy's Force-presence, burning as bright and brilliant as one of the millions of suns, so bright that to look at it directly left Maul blinded. To see Skywalker clearly, he had to only look from his peripheral vision, only see from the corner of his eyes. The boy was scared, but instead of embracing that fear, his anger at being captured, he refused to acknowledge it, and released it to the Force like the Jedi he was. That was only one of the things that Maul wished to change. This boy was only a padawan, but if allowed to grow, he would be a powerful Jedi. He already was. That power could well serve him as a Sith.

Behind the mask, Maul frowned. There was something different about this boy. He was… pure. Untouched by Darkness. His very _name _meant light. Luke Skywalker would not turn easily, ingrained as he was in the light side of the Force.

STAR WARS

Artoo warbled nervously, rocking back and forth on his treads.

Echo and Fives, who had just finished donning their armor, turned to him. "What is it?" Fives asked.

Artoo bleeped and whistled urgently, rolling in a tight circle to emphasize his point.

"Listen." Echo interrupted. "The hyperdrive."

"We're there." Fives whispered.

With Artoo's help, they had hacked the duty roster and transferred the two clones to escort duty for the captured Jedi, and then reassigned them to the stormtrooper barracks on the planet.

"Show time." Fives said, jamming on his helmet. "This is crazy enough that it just might work."

STAR WARS

With no way to keep track of the time, and no visitors, he could have been trapped in the cell for a year for all Luke knew. It certainly felt like it. He had had a while to get used to his sudden Force-blindness, but the effect was still maddening. It felt like he had lost an arm and half his senses.

Luke could say with absolute certainty that he had done absolutely nothing for the past… however many days he had been there. So when the door to his cell cycled open, the stormtroopers found him lying flat on his back with his feet propped up on the bench. Not exactly the most dignified of positions for the young Jedi to have been in. Not that he cared. Luke rolled to his feet and turned to face the stormtroopers.

"Turn around and face the wall." The lead trooper ordered. Luke complied, raising his hands as he turned.

The stormtrooper's gauntleted hand closed around Luke's wrists and pulled his arms down and behind his back. The now familiar metal of binders secured his wrists. Luke was turned around and pushed out the door to the other stormtroopers, who led him down a gray hallway lined with doors and into a turbolift. When the doors opened, Luke was steered out and down several more hallways and into a large hangar. The particle shielding allowed starlight in and gave Luke his first unobstructed view of Coruscant.

"Whoa." For a moment, Luke forgot everything besides the gigantic city-planet. It was glowing with lights, the starscrapers reflected the millions of speeder headlights off the chrome buildings. They were on the night side of the planet, and the sun was almost eclipsed to frame the metropolis in a golden corona of light. The effect was dazzling. Coruscant's luminosity to the eye was nothing compared to that of the Force. The planet fairly glowed in the Force; the billions of lives were almost blinding in their pulsing light.

Stretching out eagerly to the Force, Luke sensed everything. Pushing out farther, past Darth Maul's Darkness, Luke realized that the Force had an almost oily quality. Then a dark presence reached out and brushed against his mind.

Flinching away from the oily Dark presence that could only be the Emperor, Luke jolted back to reality with a startled gasp. It was almost like being awakened by a glass of ice water being poured down his neck.

He was on one of the _Lambda-_class shuttles, though he had no memory of boarding it. Luke had no doubt that the next few hours would be the most trying of his life.

STAR WARS

"Yes!" Jinn whooped when the comm unit's on light glowed faint blue. It was probably louder than necessary, but, after cobbling that huge conglomerate together, and having it work, Jinn thought that a little celebration was in order.

Leia, who had fallen asleep in the navigator's chair, jerked awake, instantly alert. "Jinn? What is it?"

"Comm unit's working!" Jinn crowed, standing up. "We can send out a distress signal!"

His excitement was infectious and Leia found herself grinning as well. "Will anyone be able to hear it?"

Jinn pushed several buttons on the console before he answered. "I can put it on a loop to keep it playing, but I can't guarantee that anyone will hear it." He looked up to meet her eyes. "The signal's still pretty weak."

"But there is still a chance, right?" Leia asked hopefully, well aware of the fact that three of their five days were already gone.

Jinn smiled. "There's always a chance." Flipping a switch, he transmitted the distress call out into the galaxy.

STAR WARS

"Where do you think _you're _going?"

Raoul and Ardeth both froze and exchanged nervous glances.

"Mara." Raoul greeted warily, the two young Jedi turned to face her.

She was standing behind them, her head tilted slightly to the left, arms crossed over her chest, and a rucksack slung over one shoulder. Her red hair hung loosely about her face.

Mara stared at the duo in front of her for a moment longer before a voice spoke behind her. "We're coming with you." Mirana came up on Mara's left, a red and gold astromech droid rolling along behind her. She turned to the droid. "Get her prepped, Stark."

The astromech beeped in agreement before rolling up the open ramp.

"You're coming too?" Ardeth asked, clearly surprised.

Mirana smiled sweetly at them. "Do you really think that I'm going to let you run off with my ship?" Stark beeped something that sounded vaguely derogatory as he rolled past, agreeing with the Twi'lek.

"I thought you flew an X-wing?"

"I only fly fighters when I'm not running supplies."

"Ah." Ardeth frowned. "This isn't exactly a supply run. We might be gone for a while."

"All the more reason for us to come. We'll keep you out of trouble." Mara said, following Mirana and Stark up the ramp.

"Or get us into more." Raoul muttered quietly. Catching Ardeth's eye, he grinned. "This'll be fun." He shifted his bag to more comfortably rest on his shoulders and followed the two women up the ramp.

STAR WARS

The shuttle was jarred roughly as it entered Coruscant's atmosphere, jolting Luke into the crash webbing and jarring his arms, which were cuffed behind him. The stormtroopers that were sitting across from him shifted, and Luke thought he caught sympathy emanating from the two of them. The two next to him remained unmoved.

The shuttle set down, a little rougher than necessary, Luke thought, jostling the passenger cabin's occupants. One of the stormtroopers grumbled a complaint under his breath as he and his companions steered Luke down the ramp and into an empty hangar.

Luke wasn't exactly sure what he had expected (the most likely of the scenarios he had run through his head was being marched to the Emperor during Court) but the empty hangar with the lone Imperial Intel officer wasn't exactly what he had had in mind. It was kind of anticlimactic, actually.

The man was tall, a head taller than Luke, with black hair and eyes so dark that the pupils were indistinguishable from the iris. His skin was pale, and his lips were pursed as he studied Luke critically.

_All this trouble for him?_

The thought caught Luke by surprise, and he paused, turning to meet the man's eyes. "Apparently. Personally, I think it's a little overkill." he answered the Imperial's thoughts, and was rewarded with a shocked stare.

The man recovered quickly and turned to Luke's escort. "Take him to maximum security."

At the stormtroopers' "Yes sir!", Luke was again steered down the corridor, past sealed blast doors on either side and around a corner. Any hope of mind tricking the strormtroopers went out the figurative window as he was maneuvered through several checkpoints and past guard stations, all of which were manned by armed stormtroopers and other uniformed officers. Maybe it was paranoia, but Luke was sure that the stormtroopers' black, insect-like eye pieces seemed to follow him.

A cold chill traveled down his spine, causing Luke to shiver. Warnings of danger assailed him from all sides through the Force. There were many dangers here.

_It's a _prison _Skywalker. What did you expect?_ The biting thought surfaced, a pitch perfect imitation of Jinn, and fueled his irritation at himself and cleared his head of the panic that was threatening to set in.

A scrap of flimsi was shoved into his hand by the stromtrooper that removed his binders. Luke turned his back to the door and read the note before tucking it into his boot. Hope fluttered in his chest at those two words.

_Be ready._

Quashing a smile, Luke laid down on the bed and waited.

STAR WARS

They had dropped out of hyperspace to calculate the jump out of the Corporate Sector, and almost missed the blinking comm. Growling softly, the Wookiee played the message. It came out in a garbled screech of static, but after toggling several switches, they were able to hear part of it.

_"ayday…kywalker… randed by Dantoo… Hydian Way…ed imme… assistance… dead… fe support faili… less than five…"_

The message kept repeating itself as the two stared at each other over the comm console. "Chewie, set the course for Dantooine."

Chewbacca roared in agreement.

STAR WARS

**Things are starting to happen now! Yay! As always, I'd love to know what you think!**

**-CommChatter**


	16. Escape

**The long awaited update! Here it is, folks! Also, FYI, updates will be taking longer, and I apologize for that. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Blue Saber 1: Thanks for the review. Jinn, Leia, and Solo won't be in this chapter, but, as for Luke, you'll have to read and see.

Crazy: Why yes, you do sense Solo and Chewbacca! Mara isn't under any security because she hasn't been outed as a spy yet. Anakin left too quickly to tell anyone about his suspicions.

STAR WARS

The four of them were in the lounge area of _Second Chance_, with Raoul and Mirana playing dejarik on the holo table. Ardeth cringed as Raoul's rancor attacked and dismembered Mirana's acklay, which gave a piteous shriek before vanishing.

"If this was real life, that wouldn't have happened." Mirana complained.

"If this were real life, a rancor and an acklay would never meet, so that's a moot point." Raoul countered, grinning smugly.

A yelp momentarily distracted them and they glanced over at Mara, who was wearing a helmet with a shield down. Ardeth's silver-blue lightsaber gripped in both hands, and she was trying to ward off the stinger droid's attack. The blade vanished and Mara flipped up the visor of the helmet as she bent to massage the back of her thigh.

Leveling a glare at Ardeth, Mara threw the lightsaber and helmet at him. He caught them, one in each hand, which only seemed to irritate Mara more. "This is impossible! I'm done!"

Ardeth raised one blue eyebrow as one of his lekku twitched. "If it were impossible, Raoul and I would not be able to do that." He gave Mara an impish grin that brightened his eyes and face. "Nothing is impossible with the Force."

"Don't give me that shavit Vao-"

"Maybe she needs a demonstration, Ardeth." Raoul suggested, grinning. He turned back to the game in time to see his nexu get throttled by a wampa. "Hey!"

The holographic monsters vanished and the game table flashed GAME OVER. PLAYER 2 WINS, before shutting down completely.

"Don't tell me you're a sore loser, Raoul." Mirana teased.

"I knew there was a reason I liked sabacc better." Raoul complained, making everyone besides Mara laugh. Stark, the red and gold astromech, gave an electronic twitter of amusement, earning a glare from Raoul.

Still grinning, Ardeth stood and donned the helmet. Igniting his lightsaber, he faced the seeker, which hissed quietly as it circled him. It fired a bolt at Ardeth's leg, and as Mara watched, the Twi'lek brought the silver-blue blade down, deflecting the red laser before pivoting quickly to face the droid again; saber blade tracking the droid's movements as it darted sideways, firing several bolts in quick succession. Ardeth's blade made an odd buzz-hum sound as it wove around, easily deflecting the bolts.

Deciding that he had given enough of a demonstration, Ardeth batted back the last bolt by angling his lightsaber so that the bolt hit the remote squarely in the center.

"Bull's eye!" Raoul said, grinning.

"Luck." Mirana commented, new respect in her eyes as she watched Ardeth remove the helmet.

"To quote Master Kenobi," Ardeth said, offering Mara a smile. "'There's no such thing as luck. Only the Force.'" He tossed the lightsaber and helmet back at Mara. "Again, please?"

STAR WARS

The wash of the cargo hauler's ion engines buffeted _Star Franchise_ as Anakin piloted the ship down in the shadow of the droid piloted supply ship and down into Coruscant's atmosphere.

"I never knew stealth was one of your strong suits, Skyguy." Ahsoka said, giving Anakin a smile.

"I must say, I'm impressed." Obi-Wan agreed, glancing at Anakin out of the corner of his eye.

"I can be stealthy when I want to be." Anakin defended, steering the ship down an artificial canyon and into an abandoned warehouse. Debris and muck blew everywhere as he switched to repulsorlifts and thrusters before setting down. He ignored Ahsoka's muttered comment about never seeing him be stealthy, and said. "Now we just have to hope that we aren't found. I stayed close enough to that hauler, so we should be okay."

"Most of the time, Anakin, you're about as stealthy as a nerf in a china shop. Why the sudden change?" Obi-Wan queried, following Anakin and Ahsoka out and into the lounge.

The three of them were dressed as spacers, blasters holstered where their lightsabers used to be. Anakin had spent most of the flight fashioning a spring-loaded arm sheath that he had managed to build into his prosthetic right arm's casing. He had offered to make something similar for Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, but they had opted for a more traditional method: hiding their lightsabers in their boots.

The three of them had also disguised themselves in various ways. Anakin had acquired a fedora that he pulled down low over his face. Four days of unshaved beard accented his disguise, making him recognizable only under close examination.

Ahsoka, unable to hide the fact that she was a Togruta, had taken white face paint and altered her facial markings from sharp, angular corners to gently curving white patches around her eyes that went up to her forehead in ovals on either side of her nose. A drop of dye turned her blue eyes green. The change was drastic enough that Anakin did a double take as she emerged from her cabin.

Obi-Wan was the biggest change, though. His red-gold beard was _gone_, his cleft chin bare for the first time in the thirty years Anakin had known him. The change was so unexpected that Anakin doubted anyone would recognize the famed 'Negotiator'. The two younger Jedi stared at him, not even bothering to try to hide their shock.

"What?" Obi-Wan asked, frowning.

"Nothing," Anakin and Ahsoka said, too quickly, causing Obi-Wan to smile. Anakin's smile was small, but he quickly quashed it. He hadn't seen Obi-Wan without a beard since he had been a padawan. If he almost didn't recognize his former master, no one else would.

"While you two are wasting time gawking, we should be moving," Obi-Wan walked between the two of them and down the ramp of the ship, wrapping his poncho around himself.

There was an odd sense to the Force, almost like it was holding its breath in anticipation. Something was going to happen, something big, and very soon. The scale was doing a balancing act, and soon, too soon, Anakin sensed, the scale would topple.

Very soon.

STAR WARS

The door slid open quietly, though for Luke, the hum of the hydraulics was a screech. He shot to his feet as a stormtrooper stuck his head in the door.

"Come on, Kid," He held out a lightsaber hilt.

That decided it for Luke. Stepping forward, he took the saber -Jinn's- and out of the cell. "Why are you helping me?" he looked between the two troopers.

"Talk and run, kid." The other trooper responded, jogging off down the hallway. Luke and the other trooper following.

They almost made it to the guard station before an alarm sounded, loud and blaring.

"Damn." One the stromtroopers tore his helmet off and threw it down the hall and clicked the safety off his blaster rifle. "We're blasting our way out of here." He looked at the other trooper, who had also pulled off his helmet. "Contact that droid, tell it to override the doors!"

"We've got company!" Luke ignited Jinn's lightsaber and blocked the two blaster bolts that streaked down the hallway at the group, sending them back at the stormtroopers.

"Skywalker! The door!" one of Luke's rescuers shouted behind him, returning fire. Luke backed up several steps before pivoting sharply and leaping between the closing blast doors.

"Who are you?" Luke asked, running after the two ex-stormtroopers. The three of them flattened themselves against the wall as more laser fire tore the wall next to Luke's head, raining down bits of melted plasteel onto him.

"I'm Fives and he's-" the stormtrooper next to Luke jerked a thumb at his counterpart. "Echo."

"We knew your father." Echo added.

Luke would have questioned them further, but- "More are coming!"

Echo looked up and blasted a security cam. "We've gotta get out of here before they get here, or we're dead!"

The blast doors behind them shuddered as the stormtroopers tried to open it. From the strained look on Luke's face, Echo guessed that he was keeping the doors closed.

More stormtroopers flooded the hallway in front of them. The buzz of Luke's orange lightsaber changed in pitch as Luke hurled it down the hallway, spinning like a boomerang to cleave through armor and blasters. A quick tug of the Force and the lightsaber returned to him. turning quickly, Luke ran the tip of the lightsaber across where the two blast doors met, welding them together.

"That'll hold them for a few minutes."

"Maul?" Fives questioned.

"What do you think I am? A miracle worker?"

Despite the situation, Fives gave a bark of laughter. This kid was a lot like his father.

As the three of them sprinted down another drab gray hallway, a muffled explosion echoed after them.

"That's the blast door." Luke caught ahold of a corner and spun himself around it. Right into a group of startled stormtroopers. "Oops." Stun bolts flew around him. An objective part of his mind noticed that they were trying to stun him, not kill him. They still wanted him alive. Luke, however, had no such inhibitions about the stormtroopers.

Echo and Fives shot at point-blank range, their shots slagging the armor of several troopers; spinning one around and into the wall with a crash of armor.

All the training Anakin had ever given Luke kicked in as he brought his lightsaber up and around in a large circle, shearing off a stormtrooper's arm and cleaving another's blaster in half. One stormtrooper leapt forward with a shout of pain, revealing a beeping, twittering Artoo behind him, arc welding appendage out and sparking.

Fives blasted the distracted trooper. In the sudden silence, the three of them stood, breathing hard. Artoo rolled over to Luke and bumped against his leg. Luke put a hand on the droid's dome in response. "Glad to see you too, Artoo."

"Keep moving!" Fives and Echo both hurried down the hall as the sound of stomping feet came down the hallway. Luke grabbed Echo by the arm and hauled him back from a four-way intersection just seconds before a blaster bolt passed through the place his head had been moments before.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Artoo rolled to a computer terminal, and, whatever he did seemed to work, because, seconds later two of the blast doors slammed down and sealed shut, another alarm started sounding along with a computerized voice blaring "Jailbreak! Jailbreak!" loudly. Artoo had created a protocol, that, when given to the prison's computer, would open all the cells, thus causing all the blast doors to close in response, hopefully compartmentalizing what could become a threat to planetary security.

But the part that had Fives swearing in fluent Mando'a was the fact that, while the stormtroopers were effectively trapped where ever they were when the doors locked, so was their escape group. Until Luke drove his lightsaber into the wall and carved an opening into an ill used service hallway.

"I forgot how useful Jedi could be!" Echo cheered, leaping through the new door with the rest of them.

Luke came to the turbolift shaft first. He skidded to a stop just in time for Artoo to slam into the back of his legs. Arms wind milling wildly, Luke grasped desperately for a hand hold as he plunged downward.

There was a shout of "Kid!" and a gauntleted hand closed about his wrist, yanking him –painfully- to a stop. Luke looked down to try to find a foothold to push himself up. As he did so, he noticed just how incredibly far down the drop was. Luke looked up quickly and took Echo's outstretched hand, which the renegade stormtrooper then pulled him back up onto the landing.

Luke laid on his back, breathing hard. "Thanks." He pushed himself into a sitting position and massaged his right shoulder. "I think you dislocated my shoulder."

Fives held out a hand to pull to Luke to his feet. "All things considered, I'd say that's the least of our worries."

"Yeah." Luke stared a cross the shaft. "We need to get across." Before he could examine the gap in any great detail, several blaster bolts flashed by Luke's head, one close enough to graze his hair.

The lightsaber flared to life in his hands as Luke backpedaled around Fives, who leaned around the corner to return fire. Looking up, Luke saw three stormtroopers standing on a landing above them. They dodged backward as Echo and Fives returned fire.

Behind Luke, Artoo shrilled as a red bolt of energy whizzed by, scorching his blue dome. Turning, Luke saw several stormtroopers moving down the hallway behind them. The first shots streaked down the hallway at them and Luke batted them back at the soldiers. Reaching out with the Force, Luke yanked a blaster carbine out of one surprised stormtrooper's hands and returned fire. The one stormtrooper that was left decided that discretion was the better part of valor and retreated back around the corner.

Hurrying up to Echo and Fives, Luke warned them about impending reinforcements. He ended by saying, "If we can get into the underworld, we could lose any followers."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Fives asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.

A shadow passed over them, and Luke grinned. "We could take the turbolift." He suggested.

STAR WARS

They had to hurry. The Force was practically screaming for them to hurry, and Anakin broke into a run as he navigated through the shadier parts of the massive city-planet's underworld, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka keeping pace with them as they whipped around corners.

They couldn't be late. Not for this.

STAR WARS

"Smartass kid." Fives griped, stepping out of the turbolift and into the lowest level of the prison.

"Worked, didn't it?" Luke, Echo and Artoo followed the disgruntled clone out of the turbolift and down the hallway.

"That's what bothers me." Fives looked around the hallway, blaster leveled and finger on the trigger.

"Point." Luke conceded, pacing down the hallway, one hand trailing against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Echo asked, frowning at Luke.

"This wall leads directly to the outside. If I can find a place to cut through, we're out of here."

"Nothing is ever that easy." Fives objected, turning to watch down the opposite hallway, keeping watch so Luke could continue his search.

Both clones started at the snap-hiss of Luke's lightsaber. Its hum changed in pitch to a whine as the young Jedi drove the orange blade into the wall. Looking over his shoulder, Fives saw that the blade was buried up to the hilt in the wall.

Hearing a clatter at the end of the hall, Echo brought his blaster up. Looking over his shoulder at Luke, he said, "Hurry it up, Kid, we've got company coming."

"Stop," Luke grunted, "Calling me kid."

Artoo shrilled a warning before giving an electronic shriek as a red blaster bolt flashed by, scorching his cylindrical body. Blaster bolts flew wildly as Echo and Fives returned the stormtroopers' shots down both hallways.

"Yes!" Luke hissed, as his borrowed lightsaber cleaved through the last bit of thick durasteel. A solid shove with the Force, and it exploded outward like a cork from a bottle. "Artoo, go!" Luke shouted, ducking as a red bolt shot past his head. "Let's go!"

Fives and Echo backed quickly to the opening, firing as they went, before, one after the other they ducked out the hole after Artoo. Luke leapt out after them, jamming the piece he had removed back into the wall before sprinting after his rescuers.

STAR WARS

The Emperor was right, the Imperial major mused to himself. Skywalker had attempted -and succeeded- escaping from Imperial Palace's prison. It would seem that he hadn't given the Jedi enough credit. It was time he rectify that.

Gesturing to the stormtrooper next to him, the major ordered, "Have your men spread out. When they get here, surround them."

The stormtrooper saluted. "Yes, sir."

STAR WARS

Almost time. Almost there. Faster. Have to move faster. The Force was whispering incessantly, until, quite unexpectedly, it told Anakin to stop. He did so, so quickly that Obi-Wan and Ahsoka almost ran into his back.

"Why did you stop?" Ahsoka demanded, looking around at their decrypt surroundings warily. "This place feels dark."

"Stormtroopers." Obi-Wan warned, drawing his companions back into the shadows moments before a squad of stormtroopers marched up, positioning themselves for an ambush.

"This is why I stopped." Anakin informed Ahsoka unnecessarily, sounding almost like his past self.

"I get that now." Ahsoka snipped back quietly.

"Quiet, you two." Obi-Wan ordered as they crouched behind an old dumpster. "How you two never got caught during covert missions, I'll never know." He grumbled under his breath. Anakin and Ahsoka both glared at him, but thankfully lapsed into silence.

Just like old times.

STAR WARS

The four of them kept moving, putting as much distance between themselves and Imperial Palace as possible. Luke had to admit, it felt good to be doing something again. There was this little niggling sense though. Something wasn't right.

Luke's stride faltered as he slowed, before stopping completely. Echo and Fives paused too, going instantly on alert. "What is it?" one of them questioned. Luke thought it was Fives, but they both sounded the same.

"Something's not right." Luke responded, scanning their surroundings.

Going from their past experience with Luke's father, the two clones clicked the safety off their blasters. When nothing happened, Fives spoke quietly. "The only good thing about this is Maul's back on the _Executor_ already."

Luke paused as movement caught his attention. "One thing in our favor then."

White armor glittered in the semidarkness and the three spun to face the incoming stormtroopers. Luke's lightsaber sprang to life, casting the area in front of him with an orange glow. Artoo gave a screech that sounded almost like a challenge as one of the compartments in front opened, revealing his arc welder.

No one moved for a moment, but Luke was sure he spotted something in the shadows. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw a blaster's silencer poke out of the shadows at the same time he recognized his father's Force-signature.

The blaster leveled at a stormtrooper's back, and fired. Chaos erupted as Echo and Fives took their cue and fired at their attackers, shooting the stormtroopers unlucky enough to be close to the ARC troopers. Luke lunged forward and impaled the nearest stormtrooper on his lightsaber before spinning on his heel to deflect several blasts that were heading for his unprotected back.

Artoo alternated between shooting gouts of oil at the stormtroopers- Luke briefly wondered just how in the galaxy the wily astromech had gotten it before he was forced to concentrate on the more pressing matters at hand- and zapping them with his welding arm and several other wicked looking arms that had sprouted from the droid's torso, all the while screeching derogatory remarks in binary.

Moments later, Luke heard the hum of more lightsabers, and they were joined in the fight by three others. Then it was over, and Luke got a better look at the newcomers. Two human men and a Togruta. They each had lightsabers, the Togruta had a shoto, a short lightsaber that Anakin had once told them about.

The taller of the two men deactivated his lightsaber and Anakin Skywalker lunged forward, catching Luke in a hug so tight he forced the air from Luke's lungs.

STAR WARS

**Well, what do you think? Was it ok? Let me know!**

**-CommChatter**


	17. Complications

Oh, my god, I'm so sorry! I have a very valid excuse, too. School has been hell recently, I'm moving, and I was suffering from a minor case of writer's block as well. But I got through it!

There will NOT be another update this month, because I will be traveling every weekend. I'm in NYC this weekend, Washington DC the weekend after that, and Barcelona the weekend after that. If you see a group of American tourists looking hopelessly lost in Barcelona, Nimes, Côte d'Azur, Florence, Rome or Vatican City, I'm probably one of them.

On another, Star Wars related note, J.J. Abrams, the guy that directed Star Trek in 2009, is going to be directing the new Star Wars movie, so it's going to be awesome.

Star Wars doesn't belong to me. I only own Grace Skywalker, Ardeth Vao, and Mirana Kenyon.

Hey, Saroise7, remember that idea you gave me? It's addressed in this chapter. And keep in mind what I said in my PM about character death.

STAR WARS

"Get us as close as you can, Chewie." Han directed. Standing by the airlock, Solo was ready to engage the seal that would allow him to pass between ships.

The Wookiee howled from the cockpit that he knew exactly what he was doing, thank you very much.

"Alright! Don't get upset!" Han looked back out the viewport. "That's good! Hold it there!" Working the controls, Han extended the cofferdam to latch onto the top of the dilapidated freighter. The magnetic clamp connected and sealed, pressurizing the small tunnel.

Chewbacca appeared next to Han and growled quietly before barking a question.

"Yeah, I saw that too. We might already be too late." The running lights on the ship had been out, and scans had shown that the ship was positively frosty. Depending on how long they had been like that, the people on board might already be dead.

Chewie growled again, and held out a breath mask, saying that they might need them.

"Yeah." Han forced the other ship's hatch open and dropped down into pitch blackness. A rustle behind him alerted Han to Chewbacca's decent behind him. "They're probably sealed in the cockpit,"

Chewbacca growled again, this time commenting on how thin the air was. Both smugglers pulled their breath masks up over their mouths and noses before proceeding through the ship to the cockpit.

Like Han had thought, the cockpit itself was sealed, and it took both the Wookiee and human to force the door open. The cockpit was almost destroyed, the knobs and various controls sheared off. The most prominent feature, however, was a rather large… thing on one of the destroyed comm consoles.

Chewbacca growled, moving to a corner. Following him, Han saw two teenage humans sitting against the wall. One was a boy with blond hair. His eyes were closed, and his breath came slowly, almost like he was in a trance of some sort. The girl had long, brown hair and a pale face. Her head was pillowed on the boy's shoulder.

"They're just kids." Han said, shaking his head. _Probably had some problems with the 'rents._ "Get the boy." He told Chewie, kneeling down to check the girl's pulse. When she didn't respond to his touch, Han gathered her into his arms, bridal style, and stood up. Her head flopped against his shoulder and she gave a small moan as he carried her to the _Falcon_'s medical bay. Chewbacca followed with the boy cradled in his massive furry arms.

They deposited the two teenagers on the two small bunks in the tiny medical bay. Hooking up the sensors, Han turned to Chewbacca. "Remind me to have a talk with these kids about their parents." He shook his head. "They probably ran off. Let's get out of here."

The _Millennium Falcon_ blasted away from Dantooine and jumped to hyperspace, taking with it two Skywalkers.

STAR WARS

The door slid open silently and Mara stepped out into the hallway. Looking both ways, she padded towards the cockpit. The Emperor had ordered her to deactivate the hyperdrive and keep it deactivated until the nearest star destroyer, which was not even a light year away, in the Corellian system, could arrive, pull the small freighter into its hangar and arrest the Jedi and Rebel aboard it.

Pausing in front of the navicomputer, Mara considered what part to disable first. Stepping forward, she reached for a promising looking part- and found herself airborne. She impacted the wall with a startled shout, regained her feet quickly, whirled to face her assailant and lashed out blindly.

Hands closed about her wrist as a foot hooked around Mara's ankle, and she was slammed, none too gently, face first into the grating of the floor with her attacker straddling her back. Twisting to look at her attacker, Mara saw Raoul crouched over her, pinning her arms to her back.

"What the _hell _are you doing?" Raoul's voice was almost a snarl.

"Um, did we miss something?" Attracted by the noise, Ardeth and Mirana stood in the doorway, comically confused looks on their faces.

"Mara's not who she says she is." Raoul stood, dragging Mara with him, keeping her arms in a grip she hadn't felt since her training as an assassin. Even if she could break it, Mara would have to deal with the two Jedi and Mirana.

She was good, but she wasn't that good. Unless… as Ardeth stepped forward, Mara jumped up, using Raoul's grip on her arms to her advantage, and kicked him hard in the chest, throwing the startled Twi'lek back into the open hallway. As he attempted to regain his balance, Ardeth tripped over Mirana, sending both of them crashing to the floor.

Using the force of her kick, Mara slammed Raoul back into the navicomputer. The air left his lungs in a whoosh as his grip on her wrists slackened, and Mara broke his grip. Whirling around, she landed a hard kick on the side of his head. Raoul crumpled soundlessly to the floor. Pulling her holdout blaster from its ankle sheath, Mara turned and fired off a stun shot, catching Mirana in the chest. The force of the blast threw her back into Ardeth, sending him to the floor again just as he regained his feet.

A snarled curse in Twi'leki reached her ears, and told her that she had finally shattered Ardeth's irritatingly calm demeanor. Reaching behind her, Mara deactivated the hyperdrive. The howl it made faded out and _Second Chance _erupted into realspace. Looking out the cockpit viewport, Mara saw the form of an _Imperial_-class star destroyer. Before the sublight engines could kick in, she killed all power to the engines and lowered the landing struts.

STAR WARS

Stupid, stupid, how could he be so _stupid_? Raoul had voiced some suspicions, but, like a fool, Ardeth hadn't believed him.

Hauling Mirana's unconscious body back and into the bunkroom, Ardeth leaned against the wall, taking shallow breaths around what he thought was at least two cracked ribs. Glaring at his distorted reflection on the back of the door, Ardeth leveled an accusing finger at himself. "You are an idiot."

The only response was the ship's abrupt lurch, informing him that _Second Chance_ had been seized in a tractor beam. He gave an involuntary moan as his ribs were jarred sharply, causing pain to shoot through his torso. "I have a bad feeling about this."

STAR WARS

Luke stood rigidly for a moment, hardly daring to believe that it was his father hugging him before returning the embrace just as fiercely.

"Luke." Anakin's voice was a rasp. Gripping Luke's shoulders, Anakin stepped back and stared hard at him. "Don't you ever do that to me again!"

Luke grinned, suddenly feeling safe- safer than he had in weeks. "It was a spur of the moment trip," he deadpanned. A chuckle distracted Luke from his father's disapproving glare, and he turned to see the Togruta and human man standing behind them.

"Typical Skywalker." The human said, a grin on his face.

Before Anakin could respond with a scathing retort, the Togruta inserted herself between them, and smiled sweetly at Anakin. "Just in case you haven't noticed, we're still on Coruscant. Can we postpone the reunion until after we get out of here?"

"Snips-" Anakin started.

"Yes, Skyguy?" the Togruta's smile was turning into a smirk. She knew she had won.

Anakin rolled his eyes at Luke. "You're probably right."

Turning her attention to Luke, she shook his hand. "I'm Ahsoka."

"Commander Tano?"

Ahsoka turned to look at Fives and Echo, who stood off to the side, watching the Jedi. Frowning, she said, "Echo? Fives? Is that you?"

The clomp of boots on ferrocrete interrupted them. "We need to move. Now." The other man, who Luke thought looked vaguely familiar said, turning and jogging down the alley that they had emerged from, Anakin and Luke following closely behind.

When they had put enough distance between them and the stormtroopers, Ahsoka stopped the group and faced the two clones. "You two are a little conspicuous, don't you think?" Luke watched Echo and Fives shift uncomfortably, already knowing what was coming. "Lose the armor, boys."

"Now I know you're Commander Tano." Fives grumbled, stripping off the armor on his arms first, then moving on to his chest.

"I'm not a commander anymore. Just Ahsoka."

"Sure you are." The other human said. "Then why did you order us around on the way here?"

"It was _my_ ship." Ahsoka said, then continued. "And someone with a little sense had to take charge."

The two continued bickering as Luke turned to Anakin. "Who is he? I feel like I've met him before, but I can't place him."

Anakin shook his head at the arguing pair, dug in the bag he was carrying and threw a wad of clothes at Echo and Fives before he answered. "Obi-Wan Kenobi. You met him twice, when Jinn and Grace were born."

"Uncle Ben?" Luke said suddenly, an old memory surfacing of a man with red hair and a beard handing him a toy speeder.

"I didn't think you'd remember him." Anakin said, sounding impressed. "You were only six."

Luke huffed. "I don't remember much, but I remember _him_."

"Yeah," Anakin nodded. "Obi-Wan's not easily forgettable."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Obi-Wan stopped in front of them. He was secretly glad that Luke remembered him. "Hello, Luke, it's been a long time."

"We should keep moving." Anakin said, raising his voice to be heard by their entire party. "Before the stormtroopers figure out that you had help."

"They already have." This came from Fives, who was in the process of removing a comm piece from a stormtrooper helmet. Anakin grumbled a curse in Huttese.

"They don't know who you are though." Fives added, holding the speaker to his ear.

"What are their orders?" Ahsoka asked.

"Catch the kid-" Echo said, leveling a finger at Luke, "-and kill the rest of us."

"Wonderful." Obi-Wan commented sardonically. Artoo gave a soft 'ooo' and tweeted to himself.

"The _Franchise _isn't too far from here. If we move fast, we should be able to stay ahead of them." Ahsoka said.

"Let's get moving then." Anakin turned and jogged off down the alley, clearly expecting his companions to follow.

Next to Luke, Obi-Wan sighed. "Always on the move." Shaking his head, Kenobi took off after Anakin.

STAR WARS

Thank the Force for small favors. At least, that's what Ardeth thought, crammed as he and the still unconscious Mirana were in the smuggler's compartment under the bunk. She stirred against him and moaned as he heard the door to the bunkroom open.

Ardeth tensed and put a hand over Mirana's mouth as he listened to the stormtroopers demolish the cabin. Silence fell for a moment before a man's voice reached him. "There's no one here."

Ardeth exhaled slowly as the clomp of stormtrooper boots receded down the hallway. "Too close." He murmured quietly, letting his head fall back to rest on the wall behind him.

STAR WARS

Raoul knew he was having a bad day when he woke up with the mother of all headaches and stormtroopers grouped around him. With an incoherent shout, he kicked out, catching one stormtrooper squarely in the faceplate.

Judging from the cry of pain and the blood that ran out, Raoul had probably broken the man's nose. He allowed himself a moment of satisfaction as he leapt to his feet, and, looking around, realized that he was in a cell with drab gray walls.

Capitalizing on the Togruta's momentary distraction, the stormtroopers withdrew, locking the door before he could react. "Well, this sucks."

STAR WARS

They had reached the old warehouse that the _Franchise_ was hidden in without incident, but Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan spread out anyway, checking to make sure that no one had found their getaway ship, leaving Luke, Artoo, Echo and Fives to stay and keep watch.

Without warning, a blaster bolt whizzed past Echo's head. Faster than most others could react, everyone hit the ground, diving behind storage containers as more fire peppered the ground by Luke's feet as he sprinted and dove behind a rusted out speeder chassis.

Fives and Echo returned fire. "Get in the warehouse!"

Luke didn't need to be told twice. Bolting from his cover, Luke crashed through the door and pulled his own blaster, leaning out the door, he returned fire, covering Artoo, Echo and Fives as they rushed the door and past Luke, who kicked it shut. The impact of several blasts shook the door seconds later.

"I've just about had enough excitement for today." Luke commented, breathing hard.

"We're about to have a lot more." Anakin rushed past them and pressed his hand against the biometric lock on the ship's ramp.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan came running from opposite directions, lightsabers in hand, Ahsoka already barking orders. "Anakin! You're flying. Luke, you and Obi-Wan in the turrets! Echo, Fives strap in and hand on!"

There was a loud bang as the door exploded inward, and stormtroopers poured in, firing at the group.

The ramp lowered and the fugitives scrambled up. Heat seared the back of Luke's leg, the force of the blaster bolt sent him lurching forward, off balance. The scent of cooked meat assailed his nose moments before the pain made itself known. Black spots danced in his vision.

Strong arms encircled his chest and lifted Luke bodily from the ground. He vaguely heard his father shout to Ahsoka to fly and Echo take Luke's place in the turrets before his vision tunneled and went black.

Luke went limp in his arms and Anakin had to clamp down on the panic that threatened to fog his mind. Now was not the time to let his fear rule. Fives appeared b his side with a medical kit and Anakin lowered Luke to the ground. Taking a deep breath, Anakin ripped the bottom of Luke's pant leg off and accepted the gauze and antiseptic from Fives, carefully cleaning the wound before attaching a bacta bandage over the injury.

It wasn't until Luke was safely secured in the medi-bunk did Anakin realize he was holding his breath. He sighed in relief.

STAR WARS

The light freighter barreled out of Coruscant's planetary shields into an oncoming lane of ships waiting to enter Coruscanti space. It veered off sharply before it collided with a yacht and was almost immediately swarmed by a squadron of TIE fighters, their laser fire slamming into the shields as the ship executed a corkscrew maneuver that would tear most merchant vessels apart.

There were Jedi aboard that ship, it was the only reason that Darth Maul had ordered the star destroyers in orbit to form a blockade, Lieutenant-Commander Piett thought as he watched the ship's laser cannons swivel around, spitting red energy bolts at the TIEs. As Piett watched, one laser tore through a TIE's wing, throwing it out of control and slamming it into another TIE. The laser itself burned into the ball-like cockpit of a third TIE starfighter.

Impressive, Piett thought.

The ship then inverted and flipped over the wreckage of the burned out TIEs and accelerated to almost light speed. Straight at the command bridge. Proximity and collision alarms blared, and, before anyone could react, the smaller ship stood on its thrusters and rocketed straight up, mere inches between the star destroyer's viewport and the underside of the freighter.

Leveling out, it accelerated and jumped to light speed.

STAR WARS

Ahsoka leaned back in the pilot's chair, released the yoke and breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close."

Artoo beeped in agreement, and, if Ahsoka wasn't mistaken, he made a sound that was a fairly good imitation of a sigh of relief.

STAR WARS

Sorry this took so long, but, as said above, I have been extremely busy.

Let me know what you think!

-CommChatter


	18. We're in Trouble

**So, I'm not dead. I really have no excuse except to say that high school hit me over the head in May and held me hostage until last Saturday, when I graduated! I'm back, but updates will come less frequently, and for that I apologize.**

**Disclaimer: Ardeth, Mirana, Raoul and Grace belong to me. Nothing and no one else.**

STAR WARS

The screaming was what alerted Han and Chewbacca that their passengers were awake. Actually, Han had forgotten they were in the medical bay, so he lunged to his feet, blaster drawn, before he even remembered that they were there.

Chewbacca urfed a laugh and stood up, shouldering his way through the door and moved down the hallway to the medical bay. Han followed, and, unsure of what he could accomplish by entering, watched Chewie as the Wookiee placed his furry hand on the girl's forehead. Her eyes shot open as soon as he made contact, and she sat bolt upright, pushing the Wookiee's hand away. She was shaking, Han noticed, as she pulled up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"Leia?" the boy was beside her, pushing Chewbacca out of the way, either oblivious to their presence, or ignoring them.

"Luke." Leia said, looking up at the boy. "He's hurt."

The blond boy nodded. "I know."

So there was another. That was good to know. Chewbacca was thinking the same thing, because a second later, he leaned his massive furry shoulder into Han's, and growled the same thing, along with a question. Han shook his head in response. "No, I don't know." He cleared his throat, loudly.

Both teenagers looked at them, and Han had the distinct impression that the two of them looked right through him and to the open doorway beyond. Han would never admit it to anyone, but it was just a little unnerving. The silence lasted longer than was comfortable, and finally the boy swallowed and stepped forward, hand extended. "I'm Jinn Skywalker. This is my sister, Leia. Thanks for saving our lives."

"No problem." Han shook the offered hand, noticing as he did so that Jinn was tall enough to look him almost squarely in the eye. This kid was gonna be tall. "Han Solo." Han jabbed a finger at Chewie. "This is my co-pilot, Chewbacca. You kids hungry?"

STAR WARS

"There wasn't a whole lot of time to look for another compartment. Jeez, I'm sorry!" Ardeth hadn't realized that Mirana had such a sharp tongue. If it was a whip, he'd be bleeding.

Then she shifted against him ever so slightly and leaned back, a wicked gleam in her brown eyes.

"You're picking on me!" He accused, feeling a flush start at the base of his neck.

She grinned. "For a Jedi, you're remarkably gullible."

Ardeth groaned and leaned his head back against the wall. "I'm usually not." Mirana's body, leaned against his chest, rocked slightly as silent laughter racked her small, muscular frame and an involuntary grin tugged at the corners of his mouth, an odd feeling swirling in his chest.

The feeling was broken as she leaned forward to press her ear to the ceiling of their tiny sanctuary. "I think it's safe to leave now." She said, shifting again to stand on her knees and push the top of the smuggler's compartment off and to the side. Then she wiggled her way out from under the bed. Ardeth followed a moment later, grumbling under his breath when he hit the tops of his lekku on the bunk's solid durasteel frame.

"Any idea what happened to Raoul?" any amusement that had been in Mirana's voice was gone. Now she was deadly serious. This new Mirana was almost frightening.

Ardeth pushed himself to his feet, massaging the tops of his lekku and said, "Mara knocked him out. The Imperials probably have him locked up somewhere on this star destroyer."

"Any idea which star destroyer this is?"

Ardeth sighed. "No. I was a little preoccupied at the time."

Mirana snorted. "Ah." She eased the door open manually and peeked out into the circular hallway before pushing the door open fully. Waving at Ardeth to follow her, Mirana slipped out into the hall. "All clear."

Ardeth followed her out into the hall and paused as she started to walk away. "Where are you going?"

"To see if they found my stash."

He stared at her back, surely she couldn't mean what he thought she meant…? "What?" Ardeth watched her, completely nonplussed as Mirana ran her fingers over a bare patch of wall before grinning and slapping a seemingly random bit of wall. There was a soft whirr and the wall moved and swung open on hinges, revealing what looked like a miniature armory.

"Whoa." Was all Ardeth could think to say.

Mirana grinned at him as she removed a hand blaster and checked the charge. Nodding to herself, she attached the holster to her belt and put several power packs in her pockets before tossing another blaster at Ardeth. When she saw the look on his face, a combination of disgust and curiosity, she smiled again. "Your lightsaber is great and all, but a blaster can save you just as easily."

"I'll buy that." Ardeth said, fastening the bun belt around his waist. "What are you planning?"

Mirana tossed a grenade at him over her shoulder, and Ardeth fumbled before catching it, staring at it in mild horror. "Find Raoul and get the hell off this star destroyer."

"That's… terrifyingly simplistic." he muttered.

STAR WARS

"Wait. Let me get this straight. You two-" Han leveled a finger at Jinn and Leia, "Were kidnapped and dumped out in the middle of nowhere? What the hell for?"

Leia and Jinn exchanged looks that Han guessed said something along the lines of _how much do we tell them?_ Jinn rolled his eyes and shrugged, making a _tell them_ gesture with his hand. Leia sighed and shot him a glare before turning back to Han. "It's because of our parents."

Han's confusion escalated, as did his frustration with the situation. "Your parents? How-?"

Jinn, who had answered most of Han and Chewbacca's questions monosyllabically, rolled his eyes when Leia hesitated. "Anakin Skywalker is our father. Padmé Amidala is our mother."

Leia sighed, sounding relieved at the look of dawning comprehension on Han's face. "Now you understand?"

Chewie growled a question and Han seized it, unable to come up with anything better. "Anakin Skywalker, the Hero with No Fear, is your _father?" _

"He always did hate that title." Jinn said thoughtfully. "But yeah, he is."

Han looked at Chewie and saw his surprise reflected back at him in his co-pilot's eyes. What had seemed to be a simple rescue had turned into something much more dangerous. "The Empire said he was dead. Hell, they said Padmé Amidala was killed during the final hours of the war. How did they survive?"

"They almost didn't. And then they had us to worry about, so they went into hiding." Leia said.

Jinn picked up when she stopped. "Does it really surprise you that the Empire lied about them? If the two biggest icons of the Clone War survived and were _fighting_ the Empire when they had both served the Republic, what sort of message would that send? They would inspire people to fight the Emperor, and, being as they couldn't find them, the Empire was happy to call them dead."

"So you're Jedi like Anakin, aren't you? That's why the Imps tried to kill you." The look that Jinn and Leia gave each other was all the confirmation that Han needed.

"If they had wanted us dead there's better ways of doing it." Jinn mused. "They could have just shot us out an air lock." He smirked at the dark look Leia gave him. "Or lined us up for target practice-"

"Jinn!" He immediately shut his mouth at the stricken look on Leia's face, remembering the phantom pain that had awakened the both of them from their hibernation trances. It was highly probable that was exactly what they had done to Luke. The only good thing in their situation was that they both sensed Luke in the mental bond that all four of them shared.

As if he could read their minds, Chewbacca growled a question and Han translated. "Who's Luke?"

"Our brother, and my twin." Leia said.

"Where is he?"

Jinn allowed himself a smile, the Force telling him what he already felt in his bones. "With our father, somewhere in hyperspace."

"Looking for you?"

"Leia nodded. "Now, probably."

"Is there any way for you to contact them?"

Jinn sat forward, suddenly animated. "Dad made us memorize a coded frequency. Do you think we could use it to contact him?"

Chewbacca groaned something that sounded almost relieved and Han nodded. "As soon as we drop out of hyperspace you can try."

Leia smiled at them. "Thank you."

Han had the distinct feeling that he was in way too deep already.

STAR WARS

Mara listened with growing apprehension to the ship's captain as he related his orders to her. "Terminated? On whose orders?"

The captain didn't even look up at her from his datapad as he spoke. "His Majesty believes that the Jedi are too great a danger to be kept alive. The Rebels are to be executed at our earliest convenience."

Mara felt cold and almost sick. _I did this._ "He told me that they were to be transported to Imperial Center."

The captain looked up, but didn't seem to notice her troubled expression. "My orders are to terminate them immediately." He repeated, turning back to his datapad. "You're dismissed."

Seething, Mara spun on her heel and almost bolted blindly out into the corridor, retaining enough self-discipline to only walk quickly, and not run like she wanted to. Returning to her room, she picked up the lightsaber on her desk and examined the handgrip.

Igniting it, she studied the green blade. It was the exact shade of Raoul's eyes, she noted, irritably swiping at her own eyes as they itched. Her fingers came away wet. _ Am I crying?_ It was bewildering in and of itself. She never cried. Ever. And yet she was.Then the guilt hit her like a physical blow, driving Mara to her knees. Raoul's lightsaber deactivated as it hit the ground, rolling and bouncing lightly off her boot.

Mara hadn't known what a friend was before she'd gone off on this crusade with Raoul, Ardeth and Mirana. She hadn't even realized that they had, very slowly, wormed their way into her heart. And how had she repaid them? By betraying them. By putting Raoul in a position that could only end in his death.

She felt horrible, and Mara, who had never experienced guilt before, wondered why she hadn't. Had she been so blind as to justify killing by merely telling herself that because the Emperor wanted them dead, she was justified to kill them?

She took a deep breath and thought back to the conversation she had had with her master before going to speak to the captain. Obviously he hadn't thought she would go to the captain about prisoners, and normally she wouldn't have. But, this time had been different. She couldn't explain how, and deep down, she didn't want to. But the Emperor had assured her that the Togruta Jedi and the two Twi'leks would be spared to become his agents.

Reaching out to the Force, Mara felt it thrum around her, stronger than it had ever seemed before. Was she really his only Hand, or was she only one of many? Ardeth and Raoul had proven that she was strong in the Force- so was anything the Emperor told the truth? Did he care about her?

The very foundation of her beliefs seemed to crack and crumble, And Mara realized that she had a decision to make. One that would decide the rest of her life. And it scared the hell out of her. So, did she let Raoul, Ardeth and Mirana, the first beings who had offered her friendship and freedom, and who had never once asked her to be anything but herself, die, or did she help them? Could she go against everything, her training, her life, the Emperor, to help people she considered friends?

Pushing herself to her feet, Mara nodded grimly to herself.

STAR WARS

It was the raised voices that caught his attention. Unable to make out what was being said through the thick durasteel, Raoul edged closer to the door and jumped when he heard the report of a blaster. Then the door cycled open and a dead stormtrooper fell flat on his back through the door.

Mara stood in the open door, a smoking blaster held in both hands. "Come with me." When he didn't move, "Quickly!" she snapped.

Shocked into motion, Raoul took a step forward before stopping. "Had a change of heart, did you?"

Mara grimaced at him. "I suppose I did," At Raoul's raised eyebrow, she sighed. "It'll take too long to explain now. Let's get out of here." Then she held out his lightsaber and another blaster. "You'll need these."

Grinning, Raoul took the lightsaber and checked the blaster's charge. "I think you're right."

STAR WARS

Blasterfire echoed down the hallway, and Ardeth and Mirana rushed towards the ruckus and paused. Mirana rounded the corner first, blaster leading. She stopped and gestured Ardeth forward. "Look at this."

Mara and Raoul were fighting back to back, Raoul with his green lightsaber in one hand, a blaster in the other, Mara with a magenta lightsaber and a blaster as well, her red hair whipping around her head as she moved, shooting one stormtrooper in the chest before turning to them. "Ardeth! Behind you!"

Ardeth ducked and spun, igniting his blue blade, and beheaded the two stormtroopers behind them. Mirana turned with him, bringing her blaster around with her and fired point-blank into the third trooper's chest, dropping him instantly. Then they were with Raoul and Mara, sprinting down the corridor back the way they had come.

Mirana, who was leading, skidded to a stop before a four-way intersection and edged forward, pulled off her jacket and threw it out into the open hallway. Blaster bolts from both sides shredded it. What was left settled on the floor, smoldering. "I'm really glad I don't like that jacket," Mirana muttered, turning to Mara. "Is there any way to close those blast doors?"

Mara shook her head. "Not from here."

"We'll have to be fast then." Raoul dove forward, tucking into a roll and came to his feet as several blaster bolts streaked past him from both sides. Igniting his lightsaber, Raoul deflected the next volley back at the stormtroopers. "Come on!"

"I didn't let you out just so you could get yourself killed!" Mara shouted as they rushed forward, her and Ardeth batting blaster bolts back at their assailants. "We can't stay here! We need to keep moving!" Mara shouted, abandoning her lightsaber in favor of her blaster and returned fire, gripping the blaster with both hands.

"Get ready to run!" Mirana pulled one of the grenades from her belt and pulled the pin before throwing it down the corridor.

A shout of "Grenade!" followed by a loud explosion and a cloud of dust and debris billowed down the hallway after them. The shock wave shoved the four of them bodily to the floor, where they lay on the ground, gasping, before leaping to their feet and running again.

They stopped in an alcove to catch their collective breath, and Ardeth moved, grabbing Mara by the arms and slammed her against the wall. Holding her there, "Who the hell are you?" Ardeth demanded angrily.

"Hey!" Raoul shouted, grabbing Ardeth's arm. Ardeth shook him off.

"Ardeth! Let her go!" Mirana protested.

Seemingly unfazed by Ardeth's sudden attack, Mara answered calmly. "I lied about a lot of things, but my name wasn't one of them."

"What else did you lie about?"

"Ardeth." Raoul gripped his shoulder. "We can't worry about this now. She let me out. She's helping us. Let her go."

"Raoul's right, Ardeth." Mirana looked back over her shoulder at them from her spot at the doorway. "We don't have time for this."

Ardeth looked like he wanted to argue, but he released Mara and took a step back, sucking in a deep breath as he did so. Pointing at her, he said, "This isn't over."

Mirana turned her brown eyes on Mara. "When we get out of here, you _will tell us everything_. Got it?"

Mara sighed. After everything she'd done to them, the least she could do was tell them the truth. All of it. "If we get out of here alive, I'll tell you everything."

Ardeth flashed her a quick smile before turning to lead the way down the hallway, his parting shot tossed over his shoulder. "_When_ we get out of here, I'll hold you to that."

STAR WARS

Jinn and Leia sat at the _Falcon_'s comm console, watching the light on the unit flicker as it attempted to contact anything on the frequency it had been set to. Finally flashing a solid red light, it beeped once before a line of text flashed over the screen.

"Guess we'll have to record a message and hope Dad finds it." Leia said quietly.

Jinn nodded. "Ye-" something caught in his throat, and he cleared it. Leia pretended not to notice. "Yeah."

They sat closer together and Leia started to record. "Hi Dad, Mom. Jinn and I are okay…"

STAR WARS

So, what do you think? Please let me know!

-CommChatter 


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